in the dead of the night
by sillysally93
Summary: Misaki is an ordinary girl trapped in a world of turmoil. How will Yoh, Ren, and co. help her out before it's too late? SK-Parasite Eve-FF9 crossover. sorry, sucky summary. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! RENXOC, HAOXOC, YOHXTAMAO, HOROXANNA, CHOCOXPILICA
1. mitochondrial eve

AUTHOR'S NOTE: OK, so this is my fanfiction so I get to write this how I want ahaha! It's a crossover between FFIX, Shaman king, Parasite eve, and my own oc! It's going to ber RenXOC so if you don't like It don't read it! RenXOC, YohXTamao. If you ever played ff9, parasite eve, and read shaman king, you'll know where the plotline is going. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!! I want reviews!

**In the dead of the night.**

"Sit in your seat and shut up." Anna snapped at Manta was ranting over as people saw the amateurs find their seats. Of course, Misaki, Ren, Horohoro, Chocolove, Tamao, and Yoh obviously didn't look like part of them and sat in their seats waiting for the show to begin. Of course Misaki would never keep her mouth shut for much longer.

"HEY. YOU SIT DOWN AND SHUT THE CRAP UP, BITCH!" she screamed. Anna glared at her but Misaki smirked and turned the other way leaving many giving her a rude or confused glance.

From left to right (from actor-on-the-stage-point-of-view) was Ryu, Faust, Tamao, Anna, Yoh, Manta, Pilica, Misaki [Vivi on Misaki's lap, Ren, Horohoro, and Chocolove. And right above them were obviously their spirits. Tokageroh, Eliza, Ponchi&Conchi, Amidamaru, Bason, Kororo, and Mike.

"Now that the intermission is over, let us continue." The speaker announced.

"And this comes to the good part." Pilica cheered.

"I just love romance. I still think that Eva is a witch with the b!" Misaki commented.

"Yeah. I totally agree. But Melissa Pearce [aka leading actress or in other words…the witch with the b! is doing a great job. Love her voice!" Pilica said.

"After this, we should go back to the suite and let's all play truth or dare and have Horohoro sing opera." Misaki smiled with the peace sign in her hand.

"Don't think I heard you." Horohoro fumed.

"It'd be a GREAT idea, big brother!" Pilica insisted. "Maybe Hao would cringe in fear and forget the whole thing about a Shaman empire after what you'll do! Besides, opera requires practice!"

"Shut up." Ren snapped. Horohoro and Pilica stayed silent while Misaki frowned annoyed.

"Shut up my ass, you weak bastard." Misaki snapped back. Ren got up ready to attack as Horohoro and Chocolove held him back, Pilica ducked, Bason did his best to ignore, and Misaki grinned sarcastically. Seeing Ayume again in her, Ren calmed down sitting back in his seat but pretended to look pissed off.

The curtains opened up and the lights shut off.

"Father! Please! Allow me to marry Eva!" Prince Edward cried. Melissa—err Eva stood there solemn and 'sad'.

"Never! She is evil! Think of how many men had suffered and killed by her wicked ways!" the King responded.

"Nay, it shan't be true!" Edward replied.

"Damn, what's with the fancy speech? It's not like we're not gonna understand, I tell ya." Misaki mentioned. Pilica and Vivi nodded in harmony.

"She is the one that has suffered through the deaths."

"I shan't listen! Guard! Burn her at the stake!" Eva looked up trembled and frightened. Edward walked over the guard and asked him to stop.

"Father!" he said with a little too much exaggeration facing towards the audience. "If you wish to burn her, I ask that you take me with her!"

"And here comes the loud opera there will kill my ears." Misaki muttered angrily. Vivi and Pilica nodded in symphony.

"What's your problem, you little shit?!" Pilica whispered loudly at Vivi.

"Aww. Poor Vivi is just ---"

"Wow!" "Amazing!" was heard throughout the theatre. Misaki, Vivi, and Pilica looked up too seeing Eva turn around and set Edward on fire, then the guard, then the King.

"Sugoi. Awesome special effects!" Pilica clapped. Vivi clapped in perfect symphony with Pilica's.

"Y-Y-Yeah…g-great." Misaki stuttered.

"Don't tell me you're scared of fire." Ren mumbled standing up as the curtains seemed to have caught on fire and the guard jumping out into the audience. One man raised his hand wondering if the fire was real or not. Instead, his entire body was caught on fire. People at the balcony seemed to have caught on fire too falling from it hitting several places.

"I'm not!" Misaki insisted not afraid to stand up like everyone else did.

"Woah." Vivi flapped its arms against Misaki loosing grip against Vivi. Ren looked up and saw a body ready to smash on them.

"Watch it!" he grabbed her and Vivi and jumped over to the next aisle. It didn't take long for people to realize that the fire was definetely not part of the special effects. "You okay?" he asked quickly before Bason came quickly to his aid. Vivi stood up dusting himself off.

"Ecchi."

"What?"

"Nothing." Misaki recovered quickly. "Doesn't your body feel kinda hot?"

"Maybe it's just warm." He said feeling sweat began to form.

"Misaki! Ren! Vivi!" Tamao called.

"Hurry up, three of you!" Yoh called out. "Oh God!" he stared at his hand that was beginning to go on fire. Manta threw a pail of water on him out of nowhere but the fire wouldn't put out.

"Y-Yoh!" Misaki called out. "Get Amidamaru to possess you now!!" she yelled. Immediately in 0.3 seconds, Yoh was possessed by Amidamaru with the fire immediately going out.

"You too, Ren-kun!" she grinned. "Go ahead Bason." She said as Ren realized his fingers started to ignite on fire. It immediately disappeared as Bason possessed his master. "Anna! Possess everyone that doesn't have a spirit with one."

"Why?" she asked feeling her hand grow warmer.

"Trust me on this. You need to have the same." Misaki explained cheerfully. Anna glanced at her suspiciously before possessing Manta with Vivi's spirit [with Ayume's permission of course, Ryu having Tokageroh, Faust with Eliza, Tamao with her two animal spirits, Horohoro with Kororo, Chocolove with his jaguar.

"Pilica, here." Misaki passed a bracelet to her.

"It's hot. Hot." Pilica complained.

"Repeat after me. Summoner Junction Shiva."

"Summoner…Junction Shiva?...I'm feeling a little bit better now." She said confused. "Anna, you have Aeris. Say the same thing."

"Summoner junction Aeris." The heat immediately disappeared.

"Good job." Misaki grinned. Manta seemed to have snuck by until she grabbed the collar of his suit.

"What?!"

"We're going to see what's wrong Vivi. You're not going to chicken out on me, are you?"

"Err…why would I?" Manta/Vivi stuttered.

"Good." Misaki grinned. She turned to Yoh/Amidamaru and her voice died down to a whisper as people were screaming passing by knocking into them especially those that were on fire but luckily none of the group members caught on fire.

"All of you get out of this building now and stay at least a block away."

"Why is that, Miss Misaki?" Yoh/Amidamaru asked.

"I have business I need to take care of."

"What business?" Anna asked.

"Shut up. None of your business!" Misaki quickly said. Manta began to sneak by again. "And just where are you going, Vivi?"

"Ah damn." Manta/Vivi sat down.

"Why aren't you burning like anyone else?" Anna asked.

"Coz I'm a summoner! I'm junctioned originally with more than seven spirits [these kind of spirits are different coz they're living. They're called eidolons or Aeons. You think those kind of powers of the mitochondria will affect me?" she bragged.

"Mitochondria?" everyone asked.

"Crap. Just spilled the beans." Misaki sighed. "Go now. I need to settle some business. It should get done with pretty quickly. And by the way, you all could just combine. It won't do anything to ya." And soon the hosts got back their consciousness.

"But I'm coming along." Yoh said.

"Nah. They need you."

"They got Ren." Yoh happily mentioned.

"True…" Misaki thought. A person lit on fire knocked her to the ground but she immediately regained her composure standing up again seemingly unharmed. "Anyways! Protecting against this can only work with Shamans. Manta can because he can see ghosts. I can take anyone with me to face the enemy but Yoh or Ren need to be in separate groups.

"Whatever." Ren replied.

"Excellent then! You're GOING out of the theatre. Make sure you keep your combines. They're your life supports for now. Evacuate to at least one to two blocks to be safe." Misaki instructed. "Yoh, you can decide the rest."

"…Sure." Yoh thought. "Ayu---I mean Misaki, err…Horohoro and Tamao."

"Alright. See ya soon." Chocolove waved.

Silence finally settled in the theatre. Melissa looked over at the group of four and smiled pleasingly. Mainly at Misaki.

"You flatter me, Melissa!" Misaki smiled rubbing the back of her head. "Now I've become the person everyone needs to look up to solve the suspense!"

"Eve." She corrected with the red glow in her eyes.

"Eve. Melissa, same thing. Who's your client this time?" Misaki asked. Melissa…no Eve, giggled, hauntingly [from Horohoro's point of view. It'd be like that from now on in his second person.

"Glad you asked, Lady Misaki. Urggh." Eve spilled forward transforming in some freak of nature [rushing this part coz I dun feel lyk describing it.

"Whoa, what the…?" Yoh stepped back.

"It's the art of transformation. You could buy it online for 49.95! They teach how to learn how to mutilate yourself."

"Then how can she have control of the mito whatever?" Horohoro asked.

"Stop asking so many questions." Misaki scolded drawing her weapon.

"A gun?"

"Yeah, it's a gun." Misaki pointed to it. "I'm not that great in all the ancient weapons you guys use. Swords, spears, and…snowboards and necklaces and paper."

"Ouija board."

"Whatever." Misaki sighed.

"But I've seen you used a staff before and a spear and sword." Yoh asked.

"Yeah. But I'm not so great with them." She smiled. Eve blinked watching the four argue. 'How strange these humans react with one another…' "I'm so sorry Melissa ---"

"Eve." Eve corrected.

"**Melissa**. Let's fight." Misaki grinned winking. She shoots. Misses. "What the…? That was perfect!"

"Whatever." Eve sighed in pity. "You got away with it this time. But Misaki. I'm serious."

"Who's your client?"

"Don't get off topic!" Eve screamed. "I will be the Shaman King. Besides. If I have the power to control human mitochondria, think of what I could do now."

"Mito what?" Horohoro asked. SLAP. "OW!!" 'Tamao?'

"Be quiet." Tamao hushed.

"In other words, I can control your cells." She looks around. "Aww damn. No animals. And I've burned all of my humans already."

"Hah! Sucks for you!" Misaki grinned. "You're just jealous coz I can control mitochondria."

"So that's your special technique, huh? That must make up for how weak you usually are." Horohoro muttered.

"What did you say Horohoro?" Misaki embraced him playfully.

"Heck! I'm dying! Get off!" he screamed.

"Fine, sheesh." Misaki let go and faced Eve. "Wanna duke it out with mitochondria?"

"…"

"What?"

"…That won't have good results…" Eve pointed out. "Misaki. If you want me to convince you I'm serious…go to the hospital. And I'm sure you'll know what I mean."

"Heh?"

Eve leaves.

"Wasn't that weird?" Yoh scratched his head.

"She still didn't answer who her client was."

They later walk out of the theatre. All bunch of cops point their guns at them.

"Woah." Yoh immediately raised his hands as everyone else did. "What did we do?"

"You kids survived?" one asked.

"Yes." Tamao answered.

"Strange…" he shook his head. "Lower your guns, men." He ordered. The rest did as he said. "You kids seem to be the only survivors here. Everyone else got burned alive."

"Traumatic experiences." Misaki mentioned. "I'm crushed. I want to go home now." She lied. Tamao, Horohoro, and Yoh gave her a weird look.

Anna flipped the channels again and again. Tamao sat there with Pilica just staring at the TV.

"Gimme the remote."

"No."

"Gimme, &!"

"NO!"

"My goodness!" Misaki stretched stepping out of the shower with the towel wrapped around her. "Maybe you should get more than remote control. Then the real war starts."

"It's everywhere. We're the only survivors from the theatre." Pilica said. "Are you sure you the media won't question about this?"

"Well, the cops want us to be at the NYPD Building District 17 tomorrow at nine A.M. to explain what happened exactly." Tamao said.

"Melissa has a client." Misaki explained seriously although she did not act like that before. "She's doing this for the money. But…" she concentrated. "…why use her mitochondria powers here in the city?" Misaki asked herself.

"Maybe her client is rich but…insane?" Pilica thought. "Did you even KNOW her?"

"'Course I did." Misaki grinned. Anna frowned and turned back to the glowing screen of the television. "Melissa has powers of mitochondria. She's the only one that control it since she has the full spiritual essence from Eve."

"Eve?" Tamao and Pilica asked.

"You don't mean, the second…" Anna turned around again.

"Human. Yeah. That Eve." Misaki looked at her feet. "I have some mitochondria powers too. But they aren't too great. They won't be enough to fight against 100 mitochondria power. But I'm the only other person that could withstand Eve's presence without going on fire." 'Or turn into slime' Misaki thought painfully. 'Just hope she doesn't hit Central Park.'

"Something on your mind?" Anna asked interrupting her thoughts. Misaki looked up.

"Can a girl ever think without having someone like YOU invade her privacy?!?!" she screamed before running out the room slamming the door behind her. Anna turned back to the television eating some popcorn passing the bowl up to Tamao and Pilica whom were sitting on the bed.

"HA! Speed!" Horohoro raised both of his empty hands void of cards. Ren grumbled as Horohoro chose the pile which only had two fewer cards than the other pile as Misaki stormed by. Horohoro, Chocolove, and Ren paused and looked up from the lower platform.

Misaki stopped for a moment and looked at them. They stared back. She stared back.

"Baka hentai!" Misaki screamed holding up her middle finger. "Why don't you look at each other?!"

"Huh?"

"Never mind!!" Misaki stormed across the room to her room and slammed the door behind her. She opened it again poking her head out. "You better not peak, kusotare!"

"WTF?!" Horohoro yelled back. "I wouldn't risk my life even if I was dared to!" Chocolove burst out laughing while Ren slightly smirked holding back humor.

"SHUT UP!" she screamed again before slamming the door shut.

"What a witch." Horohoro shuddered. "Heh?"

"Speed." Ren placed down his last card. "You buy the food for tonight. If I am dissatisfied, then…" Ren placed his hand against his own neck and swiped it across before getting up and leaving.

"I…am…so…dead." Horohoro collapsed onto the table as some cards flew off. Chocolove just nodded.

"Sure you are." He replied.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: review!!!!! please! I'll be sooo happy!!


	2. ayume

In the dead of the night: Chapter 2

"So. You really mean it, huh?" Anna clarified. Anna, Yoh, Manta, Tamao, Pilica, Misaki, Vivi, Ren, Horohoro, Chocolove, Ryu, and Faust sat on the couch on the lower platform. [aka! This is like a group meeting called by Yoh.

"Mmhmm." Yoh got up walking to the center of the lower platform while everyone sat on the couch surrounding the lower platform and watched. "Now. There are twelve of us."

"?"

"Including Vivi." Yoh said. "I put some names in this hat. Half of your names are in here. The other half are going to pull them out."

"OH (&#&()(&$#$!" The room exploded with cursing and swearing.

"Settle down!" Yoh grinned. His face immediately swung to a serious flash. "If we want to fight against Melissa, we're going to need to get along and be compatible with one another as much as possible." He mentioned. Faust and Ryu seemed to have agreed to the idea. Chocolove and Ren soon fell into the agreement along with Tamao, Vivi, and Pilica. Misaki, Horohoro, Manta, and Anna were the last to finally agree.

"Good. No exchanging names." Yoh mentioned as people 'awed' and 'booed'. Yoh grinned back. "Even if it has to be a guy and a girl in the same bedroom. There are two queen size beds. That should be plenty!"

"Why Yoh? What did you think we would have thought?" Misaki grumbled.

"Nothing!" Yoh smiled weakly pointing the hat out to her first. "You pull a name first. If it is yours, just put it back in." Misaki smiled. "But you have to show me the name first." She frowned.

Misaki reached her hand in.

"NO LOOKING!" Yoh yelled. Everyone in the room practically winced especially Misaki. She grumbled and looked away pulling out a name. She looked at the notecard and frowned for a minute but then relaxed. Showing the card to Yoh he nodded.

"Tao Ren." Everyone fell in anime style. "Now both of you go pack up and choose your room! Have a good night sleep!" Yoh grinned. Misaki and Ren grumbled walking off towards their rooms retrieving their luggage.

"This is starting off great so far! Manta. You try now." Manta prayed hoping he'd get Yoh. He reached in the hat and pulled out a name. "Oh my dear Lord!" he cried fainting in anime style.

"What is it?" Yoh picked up the note. "Faust VIII." Everyone gave a creeped-out look. "Hustle, kids. It's already 12:30 in the morning."

"So?" Horohoro asked.

"You're next!" Yoh held out the hat.

"Damn, why did I even say anything?" Horohoro sighed as Faust and Manta left to move to their room. He dropped his hand in the hat and pulled out a notecard. "Pilica. Hey, not bad." He thought. Pilica jumped up.

"Cool! At least I know I'm not going to stay with a pervert."

"What's that suppose to mean?!" he yelled.

"Let's hurry up." Pilica warned. The two left.

"Wanna try Anna?" Yoh asked holding out the hat.

"Fine." She muttered pulling out a name as Misaki and Ren started moving their stuff towards their room. "&&$!"

"?"

"Orintier Vivi!" Yoh smiled.

"HAHAHA!" Misaki laughed. Vivi got off the seat and jumped up to the ground going off to his room without saying a word.

"What's with him?" Ren asked.

"Not like you to be so concern," Misaki smirked at him. "Move along, Mr. I'm-Too-Cool-For-You!" Ren pouted before carrying his stuff along. Misaki picked up some of her stuff and moved along choosing the room closest to the windows to look at the New York skyline.

Manta and Faust finally chose the other room that was closest to see the New York skyline on the opposite side of the meeting lobby [each floor of this 'hotel' has four rooms because they're sooo big and can hold many people! Yoh and company chose the room that's on the four edges of the building so one room can see two sides and the other one that was really close can see only one side but that's still pretty good. Plus, it's free for the Shaman contestants!.

Horohoro and Pilica remained in theirs. Anna and Vivi were having technical difficulties.

"Tamao!" Yoh held out the hat.

"Umm…yes. She placed her hand in the hat and drew out a name. Yoh Asakura." She read off.

"Really." Yoh smiled. "Cool." She blushed. "And Chocolove, you're with Ryu."

"…"

Now we'll see how each room is getting along…

"AIIEEEE!" Misaki stretched yawning delightfully. She got up walking over towards the refreshment refrigerator provided by the hotel [for free. Aren't they so lucky?. "Wow! So many choices of soda! Let's see. Sprite!"

"You probably can't get to sleep them."

"Hey! Sprite is CAFFEINE FREE. And besides. Since when did you care if I got any sleep?" Misaki asked demandingly. Ren turned back around angrily sorting out his luggage. The group were going to be staying here in America for quite some time.

"Want some?" Misaki asked.

"And since when were you ever concern?" Ren asked.

"Shut up shut up shut up!" she screamed. Ren smirked to himself his back facing her as he sorted out his clothings. "YOU are suppose to be the cocky one! I for one have to be the sweet little girl trying to be NICE!"

"Nice?!" Ren stood up throwing his shirt to the floor stamping his foot glaring at her. "Sweet little girl?!!" he practically choked.

"You want to start something?!" she held out her fist. "I bet you can't lay a finger on me because I'm a girl, you WEAK WEAK WEAK bastard!"

"Afraid to hurt someone like you? Do you know how many people would be HAPPY to kill you?!?!"

"No one because I I I am too perfect!" she snapped back.

"I am the perfect one here!" Ren slammed his fist against wood of the bedframe cracking it.

"…"

"Weak bastard! I could destroy the bedframe!"

"I want to see you even try to cry from getting a splinter!"

"Shut up, filthy worm weakling thingy piece of shit!"

"There's the window! I can throw you out anytime!"

"Try!"

"…My goodness…" Tamao stared at the door of Misaki and Ren's room. "Dear Yoh, do you really think that is Ayume-sama? I.." A glass breaking was heard from the room. Both had a cartoonish sweatdrop. "…really don't think it is her. The reason is…"

"BASTARD! You just (& cracked the &&$ window!"

"You threw the bat, woman!"

"Batwoman is a whore!"

"Damn you. I didn't mean that!"

"…"

"…"

"The reason is because I don't think anyone can make Ren lose his temper like that…" Tamao smiled weakly with a cartoonish sweatdrop holding up her hot chocolate.

"Don't worry about it, Tamao." Yoh grinned. Tamao blushed. "They'll get along just fine."

"ASSHOLE!" the word echoed throughout the lobby from the room. Cartoonish sweatdrop.

"I mean…it could've been much worst with Horohoro, right?" he shrugged sipping the warm hot cocoa."

"I believe so." Tamao nodded.

Now…let us see how Anna and Vivi are doing………

Anna laid back. Vivi laid back. She got up and jumped out of bed. He got up and jumped out of bed. She walked to the bathroom. Vivi walked to the bathroom. She picked up her toothpaste and placed some on the toothbrush. Vivi picked up his toothpaste and placed some on his toothbrush. She brushed left. He brushed left. Right. Right. Up. Up. Down. Down. Brush out. Brush out. Spit. Spit. Gargle. Gargle.

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!?!?!" both screamed at each other at the exact same time. "STOP FOLLOWING ME! STOP IMITATING ME!!!"

"Can we say the same for Miss Anna and Vivi-kun?" Tamao looked at Anna and Vivi's door to their room. Yoh had a bigger cartoonish sweatdrop.

"But that's the only way we can learn to work with one another." Yoh explained. "They need to stay in their rooms together for a week and for the entire seven days."

"Yoh…" Tamao mentioned.

"Yeah?"

"(&$!" Cursing was heard.

"…"

"…Never mind." Tamao thought. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"We're all going to go our separate ways. But we have to stick to the person we're with." Yoh said.

"I bought tickets for us to go see the play in Central Park tomorrow night." Tamao blushed ten shades of red. Yoh had a hint of red for a moment.

"Cool. Are you like…asking me out or something?" Yoh asked. Tamao blushed deep red. "I'll take that as a yes. We'll go tomorrow night, okay?" he whispered secretively.

"Arigatou." She smiled deeply.

How sweet! Now…everyone…

"&(($&!"

"#Y(#&!"

…Almost everyone will get some sleep tonight. Folks. It will be a long day tomorrow morning. And Melissa ---

"Eve." She corrected.

…Yes….Melissa may strike at anytime! Melissa. Your que to give the evil laugh.

"…"

Misaki stared up at the ceiling. For the first time ever, the room fell to silence. The New York City lights were a beautiful sight to look at from a bedroom as big as this and with windows surrounding almost two sides of the room.

"I can't get to sleep." She muttered out loud. No answer from Ren. She waited for a few seconds. "Why don't you answer, nitwit?" she mumbled angrily.

"…I wouldn't risk getting killed." He mumbled back.

"Hmph! That'll show you!" Misaki acknowledged. She sighed turning her head looking out at the city. "America is so pretty…where are we suppose to go to tomorrow?" Some snow began to drizzle from the sky as she saw from the windows [ she's lying in her bed. She has the bed furthest from the windows. Ren's has the closest.

"…"

"Tamao and Yoh are watching the play at Central Park. Maybe we could do some shopping while we're here. America is an expensive country. They must have plenty of wonderful clothes to buy."

"…"

"How about we go to Time Square tomorrow? We could buy some nice gifts for everyone." She suggested. "I mean, all YOU have been wanting is power. Maybe you should take a break from it for once and actually just have fun? Since this is America, you need to wear American kind of clothes."

"Ayume?"

"Ayume what..?" Ren's eyes widened realizing what he had just said.

"Misaki." He covered up. "You're talking an awful lot. I want some sleep now." He muttered shifting his position several times before going to sleep.

'Ayume…who's she? Maybe his past girlfriend or something. No wonder he's so cocky. Maybe he's trying to cover it up. And probably I'm like her in some way. Whatever. It's not like they're any of my business.' She frowned closing her eyes.


	3. shopping flashbacks

In the dead of the night: Chapter 3

"Snow!" Misaki caught a few floating sinking snow drops on her glove. "It's so cool!" she jumped up and down. Ren kept the scowl on his face looking slightly up towards the skyscrapers.

"Hack!" he gasped for a moment.

"You're always in such a bad mood!" Misaki cheered grabbing his arm with her two hands. "One place we could go to first is that really expensive shop there!" she pointed.

"So?"

"So!" she repeated. "That's where WE are going to!" As soon as they entered the store, Misaki rolled off her trench coat and tied it around her waist. Ren gave her an odd look as if meaning 'why did you do that? It's not like we're going to be in here for five hours'.

"We're going to be in this store for a long time!" she grinned pulling him towards the guy's section. Ren sighed reluctant but followed her unzipping his coat allowing himself to breathe. "Let's see…we're getting YOU American clothes since this is America." Misaki quickly picked out a few baggy shirts from the rack. "Try these on." She insisted.

"They're thirty dollars each. 18000 yen." He said.

"So what?" Misaki placed her hands on her hips having the hangers hang from her fingertips. "You're a rich kid. And you come from China, right? So these shirts have some Chinese symbols on it. It should match you quite well." She held up the shirts and pushed them against Ren's chest guessing if it fit. "Perfect!" she grinned. "So which ones do you want?" she asked.

"Whatever one." He mumbled.

"Hey! What's with your attitude?" Misaki scolded. Two girls around her age passed by. One with a flirty look [obviously for Ren LoL and the other with a confused look [note! Misaki wears shirts that have words written on them. Today's, hers said I'M JUST ONE FING RAY OF SUNSHINE, AREN'T I?. "And what's with you?!" she scolded the other two girls.

Ren turned his head to see. Both blushed. He smiled and waved at them as the girls giggled and left talking [or gossiping. "And what's with you?!" she raised her hand to slap him but he caught her hand in time.

"It's a tactic to make inferior people like you shut up." He whispered in a scolding manner. A look of hurt? Shock? sheared across her face. She slammed the shirts against his chest and walked off as he caught the shirts from falling to the ground. "…Where--?"

"Don't follow me, bastard!" she muttered angrily at him before turning around and ran out. Ren raised his hand for a minute to try to stop her but sighed dropping it as she ran out of the store and disappeared into the streets without putting on her coat again.

The man with unruly silver hair blinked with the brunette standing next to him.

"They remind me when I was young. I was pretty cocky and boastful of myself." He said.

"Yeah. But letting your guard down is another thing." The brunette instructed picking out a pretty long skirt. "I want this one."

"This goes against your money."

"Men pay for the ladies!" she scolded. He sighed in utter 'sadness'.

Feeling that she ran off far enough, she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk panting for breath as people glanced at her for a moment and passed by. The sidewalks on the New York Streets were very crowded, especially during Christmas season.

'How dare that asshole make a fool out of me. How dare he insults me!' she gripped her hand until her palm began to bleed. 'Damn him!'

"You got lost?"

Misaki looked up.

"Hey Yoh. Hey Tamao." Misaki greeted. "How are things going?"

"Great." Tamao complimented. "Umm…"

"?"

"Where's Ren?" Yoh asked. A singe of pain went through her heart. An emotional pain.

"We got separated." She lied.

"…Really." Yoh crossed his arms. "Then why were you running?" Tamao stayed silent but only nodded.

"…"

"Did something happen between you and Lord Ren?" Tamao asked.

"N..Nothing."

"You confessed to him you loved him?" Yoh asked.

"NO! THAT BASTARD? NEVER!" she yelled in their faces. "He just said something. That's all." Misaki lied yet again.

"Like what?" Yoh asked. "I mean, I could tell…never mind. He wouldn't listen," Yoh chuckled. Misaki frowned wearing her coat again protecting herself from the freezing weather.

"I forgot." She said. Yoh obviously didn't believe her. "I did. That wasn't important though."

"Then why did you run all the way out here?" Tamao countered.

"Umm…err…"

"It's alright." Yoh smiled. "Spit it out." Misaki frowned.

"It's nothing! I already told you that!" she yelled before running off again. Until she thought she was far enough away from them already she panted allowing herself to recover.

'How could I have told them that it was feeling 'hot' in there? But no one. No one went on fire. And…' The flash of the man and woman. '…so familiar.'

"…I thought I might've found you here." He sat next to her. "…What I said…"

"It wasn't you." Misaki said. "I left coz…" her heart beated fast. "Melissa was…"

"…" he thought. "No one was on fire. I felt hot, yes."

"And besides. Why would someone like me take your words bother someone as superior as me?! Me! Me who can control mitochondria and summon magical beasts in the middle of nowhere!" she yelled and then sighed resting her hands on her legs. "And why would someone like you go after me?"

More snow fell from the sky. Ren looked at the ice covered fields and wiped off some snow from his coat. Misaki stood up and turned to him with a seemingly determined look.

"So we didn't have a good start," Misaki admitted. "How about we resume what we were doing before." She smiled taking both of Ren's warm hands.

"…Fine." He grumbled. Misaki smiled as they took off.

"What we were you saying about yesterday? You called me by someone's name." Misaki reminded.

"Ayume…" Ren's grumpy expression faded to a soft, vulnerable, and sad look. "I told you before. She was someone we all knew before. She died destroying seventeen of the most powerful Shamans in the world."

"Was she really powerful too?" Misaki asked curiously.

"Yeah…even stronger than me, Yoh, Faust…all of us combined. Her physical strength was poor. But her spirit was extremely powerful. She…" he touched the pendant holding onto it. Misaki smiled warmly encouraging him to go on. "Saved me. I was killed by Nichrom's spirit when I let my guard down. The Holy Iron Maiden Jeanne tried bringing back my spirit to this body but my spirit was already too far off. So…Ayume volunteered to go and bring me back.

"She was fooled. I don't know what happened then but my spirit was possessed by the devil." He explained. Misaki nodded. "Her spirit was powerful enough to stand towards it for some time but you see, it was Hell. The only place where Angels find it impossible to win."

"…Did she win?" Misaki asked.

"Of course." Ren smiled to himself. Misaki saw the happiness on his face and looked down towards the ground and continued walking. "She couldn't defeat the devil though. So she used Tabris to pull my spirit away from the devil and fought her way out of Hell. But she was continuously being absorbed by the devil. But her own AT…uh…barrier prevented them from getting any closer.

"She destroyed my pride and my hopes though. And Yoh destroyed his own dreams and time by giving up his place if I was to come back again. But…Yoh…found an oracle bell. One still usable in the tournament. It was by one of the seventeen Shamans' graves. Tsugaru's I think. Tsugaru was the one that killed her before Ayume's spirit exploded. I don't know why the oracle bell was left by Tsugaru's grave when it was Ayume's. Because of it, Yoh's case is still being decided whether or not he should be admitted back into the tournament by Ayume's available oracle bell."

"Very interesting." Misaki thought. "Oh! I love this shop! Let's go in this one right now!"

"Is this one of the…?"

"Yes! The shops that have those mean mean words!" she grinned mischieviously.

Later….um…night time…yeah…back at the hotel [no, Tamao and Yoh aren't there coz…remember! Central Park Play………

"So how's everyone getting along?" Ryu asked sitting on the couch smoking as usual.

"Great." Anna and Vivi both complimented at the exact same time. Cartoonish sweatdrops.

"Oh you know! Brother and sister ALWAYS gets along. Besides, we did some pretty cool shopping today!" Pilica showed off some of the clothes she bought.

"You went to Niketown?" Misaki, Anna, and Vivi said at the same time. Although Anna was beginning to struggle with having to tolerate with the little black mage.

"Yeah. Horohoro and I also went to Vans. I mean, it's all the snowboard gear and sporty clothes." Pilica mentioned.

"Isn't it kind of weird?" Misaki mentioned. "That we, girls helped shopped only for the guys. You Pilica helped shop for Horohoro's clothings. I shopped for Ren's clothes."

"HA! Ren? Misaki shopped…hehe-haha!" Chocolove and Horohoro began laughing uncontrollably while Faust smiled confused and Manta chuckled a bit.

"Shut up. Besides, it isn't as bad as having your little sister creating your closet." Ren frowned in his usual self.

"(&$#$!"

"So where's Yoh?" Manta asked.

"He and Tamao went to see some performance." Misaki explained.

"Without me?!?!" Anna and Vivi exploded at the exact same time. "He snuck off when I am his fiancee, and is going out with a student of his!?!?!" she slammed her fist against the couch which made a thud. "I'll give him a lesson when he gets back home." She cracked her knuckles.

"Whatever. Maybe the poor guy is just trying to see what it's like to be with another girl besides you for once." Misaki suggested.

"Shut up! It's none of your business!" Anna yelled back.

"Dear Yoh, it's feeling kind of hot…I think." Tamao fanned herself with her hand which didn't do much.

"Ah don't worry, Tamao." Yoh patted her back. "Just sit back and watch the show."

The two looked toward the stage.

"Where art thou, my Cornelia?" Marcus cried out. He raised his arms towards the sky. The brown cloak that covered him caused the suspicion of the plot to rise. "Hath she betrayed me? Nay, I shall have faith! The sun shall rise. Oh how now my enemy is my sun." Singing of opera was heard back stage. "Th-that voice! Is thou my Cornelia?"

"Marcus!" the actress with a dark green dress wore.

"Cornelia! We shall set soon and flee this wasted land!" Marcus said excitingly.

"Yes Marcus…where is the ship?" Cornelia questioned.

"Oh! This is my favorite part!" Tamao stared all bug eyed. Yoh chuckled and watched in interest at the two actors.

"Nay! I am not Marcus!" he threw off his cloak towards the other side of the stage. "I am Knight Dycedarg! General of my King Zalbag splendid army of Ivalice!"

"Wh-wh-what did you do to my beloved, Marcus, Sir Dycedarg?"

"I killed him with my blade, fair princess!" Dycedarg exclaimed holding up his long bladed sword. "And I shall kill the only heir to King Leo's throne so we can take over your magnificent country, Princess Cornelia!" he held his hands in the air and laughed evilly. He released one arm and let it drop to his side, the other hand holding the sword raised down slowly pointing towards the Princess.

"You, milady," Dycedarg announced. "Are responsible for the loss of many of men's lives from your seducive ways! I shall not fall like they have! Prepare to fight!"

"A booby trap!" Cornelia's voice immediately shifted obviously being the 'fake' Cornelia. "I shall destroy you like everyone else I had before! I will kill all of the witnesses that bears to see my hideous disguise!" Her nails began to grow inches long, her hair twisted back, arms grow in disgusting lengths. Her legs disappeared replaced by the roots of a tree combined together.

"!"

"!"

"Is that…?" Tamao froze.

"C'mon. Let's get out of here." Yoh grabbed her arm racing across the audience.

"None of my audiences shall get away." Melissa's eyes gleamed as one by one, people began to grow into orange goo or slime.

"Combine." Yoh and Tamao called upon their spirits. The heat disappeared at once as everyone began to look at their hands wondering what was going on as they were turned to orange slime. By the time the two reached to the top of the theatre, the orange slime had gathered up to one big goo of it.

"Witnesses." Eve grinned sinisterly at the two on top of the theatre. "Shall we let them go?" Eve asked 'Dycedarg'.

"Let them. The people need a witness or two. The fear is just too thrilling." He giggled. "I want to see how the people of these cities react to this." He smiled. "But it looks like the little girl didn't show up tonight."

"She has friends. Maybe she didn't like operas." Eve thought. "I was sure the tickets were adressed to Misaki."

"I trust you, Eve." The man concluded. "Don't worry too much about it right now. For the moment, test the two Shamans' abilities. But don't hurt them too much."

"My pleasure," Eve bowed slightly before a moment before flying up towards the two.

"Oh crap. It's coming this way." Yoh grabbed his Spirit of the Sword guarding Tamao. He looked down towards the theatre to see his target.

"Oh no. Where did she go?" Tamao asked Yoh.

"Behind you." An intimidating voice rose silently behind them. Yoh and Tamao immediately turned around. Eve disappeared and appeared behind them again as Yoh and Tamao turned around. "The saddest things of a girl with a boy, is that…the girl is usually the one that becomes the damsel in distress." Eve giggled eyeing at Tamao.

"Heh. Taste this." Yoh grinned in confidence throwing out the Harusame and the Spirit of Sword linking to it. The entire Spirit of the Sword exploded into its powerful Over Soul. Eve backed off about a thousand feet away from Yoh.

"Very good." Eve smiled in satisfaction as the orange glob rose behind her and grew larger. Yoh's Spirit of the Sword shone as the orange glob grew bigger now shadowing the two. Tamao stepped forward holding up her heart tag.

"Heaven's anger." She recited. Her eyes glowed completely black for a moment. "2nd Kappa." The lake behind the theatre exploded as the water demon rose, seven times taller than the theatre and definetely much much more humongous than the orange glob probably would have ever got.

The kappa blinked for a moment staring at its target. Orange glob and Eve. The kappa arched its head back and released a mighty roar sending water needles upon it. Eve managed to dodge most of them as the orange glob was pounded down mercilessly by it.

The man saw Eve beginning to lose her touch and smiled as Eve flew back down panting. The orange glob quickly retreated down to the sewers. The man raised his hands up in the dark Christmas sky as noticeably a giant black ball appeared in the sky. Symbols appeared around it and glowed bright purple. Something was coming out of it.

"What the heck is that?" Yoh looked up and pulled the Spirit of the Sword up into the sky to hit the black ball. The black ball vanished and reappeared half a mile away. "I missed. Tamao. Command your water guy to go get it."

"Right." Tamao focused the heart tag towards the ball. The kappa roared a horrifying screech as a water tornado formed and blasted against it. The creature which came out of the ball dodged the attack and shot it back at the kappa. In result, the kappa exploded. Tamao gawked seeing her random ouija summon had failed.

"Both of you." The man called. Yoh and Tamao looked down from the top of the theatre. "May I ask what your names are?" he asked.

"Why?" Yoh asked in reply.

"You seem to be quite the opponent. No one has ever surpassed Eve before."

"…Yoh." Yoh answered.

"Tamao," Tamao answered.

"Alright. I'll see you soon." The creature landed next to the man as he got on it with Eve.

"Wait!" Yoh called. The man looked up. "…Why are you using Eve to do this? And what's your name, geez."

"…I have my reasons." He smiled and saluted before the creature flapped a few times before taking off in the night sky.

Tamao and Yoh got back to the hotel later. We will not discuss how Yoh managed to survive Anna but we shall move on to what is more important, shall we?

"Only survivors of Central Park, huh?" Ryu nodded.

"What was his name? The man." Anna and Vivi asked. "SHUT UP!" they yelled at each other. Cartoonish sweatdrop.

Dunno." Yoh mentioned.

"You should have asked, baka." Misaki's face droned in boredom. Everyone turned to her surprised. Vivi walked in the center and explained it all.

"So…what do we do?" Yoh asked. "We certainly have to trace them. They seem to be hitting places with lots of people. Especially here in NYC." He thought. "Ren, cool outfit."

"Shut up." He snapped back. Horohoro, Chocolove, and Manta snickered.

"But hey. At least you look American enough to fit in here." Yoh said. "Everything baggy. Cool." He complimented. "I'm going down to the pool. Anyone coming? There's a fitness center next to the pool."

"Coming." Ryu immediately got up. Horohoro and Ren stood up. Manta decided to come along also to swim.

"So, Vivi, Faust, Misaki, Anna, Pilica, and Tamao. All of you will stay up here?"

"Hai."

The boys soon left the room and walked into the spacious elevators that showed the city skyline of NYC. The girls, Vivi, and Faust remained in their hotel rooms.

"It is already pretty late." Faust summed it up. "We should be getting back to our rooms and get some sleep for tomorrow."

"I'm staying up incase if anyone is going to try to molest me so that I'll summon Quezacotl to kick their ass." Misaki explained walking to her room and slamming the door behind her.

"Who'd risk their lives anyways?" Anna frowned bringing an apple and a banana to her room. Faust nodded walking to his room while Tamao and Pilica began to play a card game.

"So what if I'm resting on Tao-boy's bed? I want to see the NYC skyline much better. Besides, ladies first, right?" she asked herself. She sighed. "The deadline says this Saturday about some Christmas dance. Yoh has no choice but to go with Anna, poor thing…Manta…feel sorry for him too but not as much as Yoh. Vivi can come along and dance with Manta." She giggled imagining the two.

"Horohoro and Chocolove and Ren are all going to have to compete for me! Horohoro is such a knuckle head. Chocolove is…okay. Ren's kinda cute. So his Horohoro." She smiled to herself. But there are plenty of girls in NYC to ask out. Especially those two sluts." She said to herself thinking back of what happened at the shop previously.

The lights flickered. Black out. The NYC lights flickered and shut off completely.

"What's going on?" Misaki got up from the bed and walked towards the window.

"Misaki."

"…Who's there?" Misaki asked. Her heart pounded fast. Her chest began to feel abnormally warm.

"Your mind." The voice cackled. "I saw you take off by yourself today. It's not good to be by yourself anymore." The voice seemed to have a wicked sense of triumph. "Especially when there are so many people after you."

"…Kuja?" she asked. The ground shook. An earthquake?

"No, silly." The voice giggled. "Earthquakes don't happen here in this side of America. Save yourself Misaki. Let's see how you do."

"Kuja? Kuja! Wait! Kuja!" Misaki called back. The ground shook heavily as she ran behind the bed. The glass shattered flying in all directions making a few cuts against her arm and her shirt and pants. Seeing the glass had settled, she got up despite the ground shaking violently.

"Kuja!" she yelled. Cracks in the floor were heard. The floor around the room cracked easily as the entire section of the floor [strangely only the room. The floor smashed against the floor below it and began sliding out falling down about to tumble off the eighty story building [yes they're VERY close to the top floor.

Misaki lost balance and fell to the ground. She looked around for anything to hold into incase if it fell out. The Tabris pendant was laying at the edge of the entire room piece. Stumbling over, she grabbed the Tabris pendant.

"Shit. I'm slipping." She saw the beds sliding towards her as she ducked her head gripping against the ground as the beds slid off towards the edge falling towards the ground.

"Misaki!" Anna and Pilica called from the top.

"A little help could do!" Misaki tried pulling back up against it grabbing her bracelets before any of them flew off. The entire piece of concrete gave away as the concrete slid off the building down towards the ground. The concrete held itself diagonally which made Misaki barely able to hold on.

Slipping on the bracelets quickly to her hand, she slipped having her slide off of the concrete falling separately.

"Summon Quezacotl!" she ordered. The clouds that have already gathered shot a thunderbolt. Reaching close to where Misaki was the bolt formed into the giant green electric bird. Quezacotl caught its summoner flapping its wings maintaining its control in the air with ease as the concrete below smashed against the ground.

"That was close." Misaki looked down nervously. "Thanks Quezacotl." She expressed her gratitude. Quezacotl let out a bird cry of 'your welcome'. "Let's get back up." The bird obeyed flapping its wings reaching to the top.


	4. whatever happens

In the dead of the night: Chapter 4

The some slight sunlight peeked into the room. Misaki opened her eyes. And immediately sat up and looked around the room.

"…A dream?" Misaki asked seeing her bracelets were still on the desk. Ren slept on the other bed. "I must've fallen asleep." She thought. 'Besides. It's obvious Kuja can't talk in people's minds. He doesn't have that kind of power since he insisted on trying to do that before.'

"So you're awake." Ren mentioned.

"Yeah." Misaki admitted. "I wanted to sleep on the bed closest to the window so I could see the city lights since it's hard to see it from where you are. But I must've fallen asleep before you came back." No reply. "If you touched me, I would have summoned Quezacotl to kick your ass."

"Not worth my life." He replied.

"Wimp." Misaki got out and walked across the room to prepare some tea. "I thought people like you are usually up earlier than this."

"Your point is?"

"Never mind! Bastards like you are hard to talk to!" she screamed waking up Manta and Faust.

"Stop your complaining." Ren mumbled pulling the sheets over his head to keep the sunlight out. Misaki frowned at the figure in the bed for a moment.

'Bakamono.' She said mentally and furiously. She looked back to her own bed. 'I thought I laid back against the bed. But the sheets…'

"HENTAI!! ECCHI!! (&(&$!"

"Morning, Vivi. I guess your up earlier than I am, huh?" Anna mumbled exhausted. "Usually I'm up earlier than everyone else to get breakfast prepared or something."

"Are you tired? I could do it." Vivi suggested. "Maybe take a day off. We all have been up quite late these past few nights especially from Melissa and now Mr. Kuja-man."

"Yeah. And your bitch is stealing the spotlight again." Anna accused.

"I'm sorry." Vivi shrugged. Anna blinked astounded at the little mage whom she thought before was just a mute freak of nature that is extremely good in imitating. "I mean, I've lived with Misaki ever since she was little. Of course she admires the powers she has but her usual attitude is a way to cover up how much she hates being who she is."

"Not these I-am-so-powerful-yet-I-hate-my-abilities!" Anna snapped. "Turning to one of those bitchy comic heroines with some kind of dark past."

"She likes her powers yes." Vivi agreed. "But she doesn't like the fact that she needs to always be with someone to make sure she doesn't get hunted. There are many people that are after her powers since she's part Shaman, Summoner, and Eve."

"Doesn't that make her have itako abilities." Anna whispered.

"No. Summoners," Vivi explained. "need to **find** the creatures on their own. They can't search for them with sight since their sight is like many like yours. They need a good sense of the third, touch and their sixth sense, mental energy. Those two are VERY important senses into finding eidolons because summoners need to touch the thing that contains the eidolon or touch the eidolon and the summoner HAS to know it's there either."

"I see…" Anna nodded slightly.

"Itakos have quite an ability too. But it's different since eidolons are living creatures which makes them more powerful in most atmospheres."

"Can a summoner summon their eidolon anywhere?"

"…Of course not." Vivi answered. Anna blinked in some surprise. "They have things they need to contain them with. For Misaki, they're bracelets. She wanted Ren's pendant because it could hold all of her pendants in there and what she believes, has a powerful eidolon. First, when you get an eidolon, the summoner is going to **have** to use them on the first few battles and will need to spend mental time learning about the eidolon. This is the only way the summoner can gain their ability, otherwise it has to be passed down to another summoner."

"Learning the ability mentally?" she questioned.

"Sleeping for a long time. About two or three days." Vivi explained. "Does that sum it up?"

"And the mitochondria?"

"Mitochondria is the theory of the support of evolution. Melissa can control that very well. Animals probably work very well for her…" Vivi gulped.

"…What?" Anna asked.

"Does Tamao love animals?"

"Pretty much." Anna replied.

"Did she mention anything about animals when she and Yoh went to Central Park? The only way they could have gotten into the theatre is through the Zoo…" Anna froze.

"She may have forgotten." Anna insisted. "Ask her later." She got out of bed and began getting prepared.

"YAAAAWWWWNNN YATTA!" Pilica got up. "HOROHORO!!!" she yelled.

"Mwha?" Horohoro grunted in response.

"It's 6:30!! Gotta get up and answer the doorbell soon to pick up this hotel's delicious breakfast!"

"Yeah…I know…" Horohoro turned over and pulled out his pillow placing it over his head.

"HOROHORO!! Get up NOW!" Pilica pleaded which seem more of a demand.

"Man, Pilica," Horohoro finally sat up. "You can be such a bitch sometimes."

"Whatever. Hurry up and get dressed." Pilica ordered gathering some clothes and rushing off to the bathroom slamming the door behind her.

"Dear Yoh. You should get up now."

"Don't want to."

"Perhaps if I shall be more strict like Miss Anna that you will obey?" Tamao asked.

"HELL NO!!" Yoh flipped the sheets crawling out of bed and falling out.

"Oh my…" Tamao blinked. "Do you need help dear Yoh?"

"N-nah, it's okay." He stood up dragging a towel with him. "You done using the bathroom?"

"Yes." Tamao bowed.

"K. I'll be taking it for a while." He mentioned closing the door behind him softly.

"Hey Ryu."

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of…"

"Who. Misaki?" he nailed the point.

"Yeah." Chocolove muttered. "Horohoro has been looking quite down these few days. I think it's because of Misaki. Ren's attention has quite suddenly shifted to Misaki even though she always seems to harass him."

"I believe she does." Ryu mentioned. Chocolove chuckled to the thought. "But about her being interested him. I'm not too sure. I think she's trying to get along but you know the boy. It's kind of hard since both of them want to be the superior one. Ren thinks women are weaker and become damsel in distresses later on, Misaki thinks women can kick men's ass too. I mean, she's got her some 5000 creatures with her to prove Ren wrong."

"But then why does Ren look at her?" Chocolove asked. Ryu chuckled.

"Funny you ask me for advice." Ryu thought. "Maybe because Misaki's resemblance to Ayume." Chocolove nodded. "Of course, she acts a little bit different."

"L-little?" Chocolove practically choked.

"Fine. A lot." Ryu corrected himself. "May be also because finally someone wants to prove Ren incorrect." Chocolove shook his head. "It's only human that someone gives them their boundaries. It makes them feel more secure. Because everyone is always listening to Ren, Misaki is a lot like him. So it's like fighting against his own strengths. The two can be ignorant, the two will never admit being wrong, never apologize because they believe they're always right, and most of all be the best of the best."

"I see." Chocolove sighed. "I guess it shouldn't be any of my business in the mean time."

"Well it is." Ryu said. Chocolove looked at him in question. "I think Horohoro is going to need your support." Chocolove smiled weakly and nodded.

"This is the fourth day and I believe I'm already dead." Misaki sighed sipping some tea. "This tea tastes like crap!"

"It's American tea." Manta reminded.

"So?!"

"Iii didn't say anything!" Manta cowered. Anna blinked in interest reading Misaki's tank top with the really short sleeve. _I WAS PAID TO KICK YOUR $$._ Cartoonish sweatdrop.

'I don't think I have to worry about Yoh falling for her.'

"So! Has everyone found a date yet? I just called up some girls if Ren, Horohoro, Chocolove, AND Ryu," she grinned at him.

"Hey! What's that for?"

"Nothiiing!" Misaki grinned. "Tamao! You need a guy. I suggest you could choose one of three stooges here [Horohoro was ready to kill her but Chocolove held back, Ren pouted or the runty little midget [Manta yells at her. Ryu can be a good choice too [Ryu smiles or Faust perhaps [death glare. Same for you Pilica although you probably don't want to go out with your brother [ready for a bitch slap."

"What about you?" Horohoro asked.

"I dunno. Isn't it suppose to be the man's job to ask? Besides, cocky men are chicken [Ren ready to kill her, Chocolove and Horohoro had to hold her back." Misaki grinned. "And if you can't find anyone we have to walk through a gay dance floor. So all of you homos could drop by there," she suggested.

"What's that suppose to mean?" everyone glared.

"Anyone here homo?" Misaki looked around. Glares were received. "Cool. Then we have two more days. For all of you singles, get a girl quickly! All the pretty girls here except for Anna have to wait for a bastard to ask them out!"

"You didn't mention anything about Yoh." Vivi reminded in a whisper and 'grinned evilly'.

"Oh yeah! And Yoh! You've got to take Anna with you, right?" she asked. Yoh nodded casually. "That's a good thing. Anna doesn't have to worry about finding a man. But I feel sorry for you." [Anna ready to kill with Pilica and Tamao holding her back. Vivi fell on the floor in laughter.

"Do you realize you are pissing everyone off this morning? Not a good start." Chocolove warned.

"So?!?! With how you're dressing, kid, you would be way too chicken to ask a girl out, I guarantee!" Misaki yelled. "You and the three stooges haven't had a date yet. I'm ashamed!" she smiled as the three struggled to humbly accept her insults. "There's me, Pilica, and Tamao! Make your choice!"

"Hey! Don't I get one?!" Ryu asked.

"Oh yeah…you too." Misaki added quietly. "There's three of us, three of you. So who shall it be?" Pilica and Tamao came up behind her of course blushing.

"You sure this is alright?" Tamao asked.

"Sure, I'm sure. We'll see how chicken they are and we also will see which one of them will make an excuse to back out of it." Misaki placed her hands on her hips and grinned mockingly. "So which one of you will go first?"

"You're leaving me out!" Ryu called.

"Shut up!" Misaki screamed back making Horohoro and Chocolove wince.

"You take Misaki…"

"Nah. I'll find a better girl." Chocolove whispered back. "Should I take Tamao or your sister?"

"Any. I don't really care." Slap.

"No whispering!" Misaki demanded. "Make up your mind and your own choice already! It's just a dance thing. It's not like your going to be together for an entire week since I have to be stuck with baka." Ren bit his tongue holding back the anger.

"I'll take…err…Pilica." Chocolove said.

"Tamao." Horohoro said right away.

"Bastards like you must be really frightened of a girl your age like me, ne?" Misaki asked mockingly.

"N-no. Not at all," Horohoro smiled weakly. "Let's go Tamao." He took her hand brought her away from the lobby as fast as possible.

"…Shit." Misaki stamped her foot on the floor. "First, I'm stuck in the same room as you!" she yelled pointing to Ren. "Now I got to go to some freaking dance with you?!?!" Ren stood up and placed his hands on the sides of her face keeping direct eye contact at her. His face was only inches away from hers. Everyone now was staring.

"I was having a great morning until you appeared. Live with it, girl. It's just a dance." He muttered irritantly releasing his hands walking off. Misaki opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"A-A-ANTA BAKA!?!?" she managed to say. "What did you think I meant?!" she turned back to the remaining audience. "What are you all looking at?! Why did we have to decide a dance?! If I'm going with him, there's no way I'm going AT ALL!" she demanded before stomping off to her room. Relaxation and relief spread throughout the room.

"She's going with Ren." Chocolove laughed but then the laughter died away when he thought about HoroHoro again.

"I'm sure they'll get along. I guess she's…just trying to find a way to get along without seemingly being weak. And I guess that's quite hard." Yoh explained.

'Damn. That baka thinks he can make a fool out of me.' She clenched her fists until the palms scratched up and began to bleed again. Warm drops of blood oozed down her hand and dropped against the snowy white bed sheets. She laid back against the bed closing her eyes trying to clear her mind of the frustration.

"My social and competitive life is draining me," she whispered to herself.

"I can tell."

"What the..!!" Misaki opened her eyes practically jumping up. "You bastard!! Creeping up on me like that!" she felt her face turning red as Ren leaned over, his right arm landing to the right of her and the other left arm pushed up against the bedframe, his mouth close to her ear. She shuddered while his right arm snaked around her waist pulling her into his control.

"See? I told you women were weaker." He whispered seducively.

'I've never lost composure like this…' her heart pounded extremely fast probably skipping a few beats. '…but I've never been in a situation like this before. But…no one…no one is going to prove ME wrong.' Misaki opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Her body trembled to his touch as Ren realized he was winning control.

"Nice try. So do you see who the superior one is now?" he asked. Misaki shut her eyes hoping it'd all end. Unfortunately it didn't, as his mouth explored her neckline savoring the taste of her skin. And all she could do was hope for it to be over.

"You can stop now." She managed to say surprised she even spoke.

/…Hope that helped…/ Shiva's reply in the back of her mind. Misaki smiled and mentally thanked her. Ren chuckled amused and released his hold on her.

"Am I not good enough?" Ren asked, his face bearing a seductive look. Misaki grabbed the notepad and began fanning herself.

'Shiva. Talk for me for a while please. I can't handle this by myself.' Misaki pleaded feeling her voice being taken control of now.

"It's not that. I should've mentioned that having a girl and a guy in the same room makes things very tempting should I say?" Misaki/Shiva slapped the notepad back against the table. "And I still disagree with you. Women can be strong too." Shiva's presence left. Misaki thanked Shiva mentally again. "Like me, for one! I can summon my eidolons and I can summon as many of them at once and I bet your ass would get kicked."

"Right." Ren 'agreed'. "Continue?" Misaki smiled hopping out of the bed and happily hugging the Shaman as he caught her.

"Sure, later though." She agreed. 'And you actually think I'd want to have...with you?' As if he could read his thoughts he whispered to her in a creamy, seductive tone.

"Don't worry, Misaki. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it from the first second of it." She blushed ten shades of red. "It's alright if you aren't experienced enough. I'll teach you." He let go of her and chuckled seeing her red face. "Never seen you loose composure like this before. Horohoro has already planned to throw a party. A casual one after we're done with the fancy Christmas stuff," his cocky attitude began to take control again.

"You two-faced bastard." Misaki grumbled. Ren smiled.

"Gomen, milady." He said sarcastically sitting down on the bed. "It is quite hard to resist when two people of the opposite gender are in the same bedroom. I hope you'd understand."

"Understand?!?!" Misaki stomped her foot against the ground. "Anta baka?! I would have gone along this entire week just fine with you in this bedroom without a single temptation! No matter how superior men like you think they are, you all are ecchi!!" she accused.

"I agree." He took out his family heirloom, the golden sword his father passed to him. He began polishing it with a cloth that was meant to polish with. Misaki frowned. "Usually I am not tempted by women like you. But like all other girls, you are just as vulnerable."

"Sh-shut up!" Misaki turned around walking towards the bar pouring herself some hot tea. "I feel sorry for that Ayume girl you were going out with," she mentioned hopping to sit on the bar facing the Shaman. "How was she able to handle you?"

"Quite…well actually. Fortunately, she was very experienced. She was very pretty. And she sings great too." Ren added.

"Yeah, yeah, all that diva stuff that hot guys nab." Misaki mumbled annoyed.

"Are you saying I'm hot?"

"Heh? What did I say?" Misaki blushed. "Tell me more about your girl that died."

"Don't put it that way." Ren glared a thousand knives at her. Misaki grinned happily.

"Gomen, gomen. Sheesh." Misaki crossed her legs on the counter. "Go on. What was she like? Beautiful? Perfect? All the guys drool over her? Probably nice, cheerful, one of those bitchin' goody two shoes." Misaki rested her head on her hand.

"…No." Ren replied. "She…was beautiful…even the guys thought so. Of course they were attracted to her but…perfect? Nice?"

"She was probably stuck up," Misaki stuck up her middle finger and placed it back down allowing Ren to go on.

"Not stuck up. She was withdrawn."

"So you guys go for the attractive, isolated girls so you could be the first to nab them," Misaki guessed again.

"Like I said before, she saved me. Saved Yoh. When she died, it…really hit us all. When you came along and we wanted you to come with us because you were part of the Shaman tournament and was a summoner, it was mainly because of…"

"I look like her, yeah I know." Misaki pouted. "But guess what? I'm not her. I'm not some isolated man freak. Got that?" she snapped. Ren frowned and got up. This made Misaki a little nervous. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her whispering to her.

"After the party." He said before letting go and walking out of the room.

"And you're using me because I resemble her." She said out loud and slammed her fists again the bar. "You don't care anyways, right? Damn you because there's nothing I can do about it…" she thought about the dream. "Pendant. I saved it for him. God, what am I turning into?"


	5. danger abounds

In the dead of the night: Chapter 5

"NANI?!?!" Everyone stepped back from Tamao and Yoh.

"No doubt, huh?" Anna asked. Tamao nodded.

"I don't recall seeing any animals as we passed by the zoo." She admitted.

"So some crazy inhumane animals are running around New York City," Yoh said. "But it doesn't make any sense. Of course these animals can be the use of killing others but I don't really the see the point of doing this."

"Probably they are supporting to wipe out mass populations of people to conserve more for the earth." Manta suggested.

"But then couldn't they just summon a meteor?" Chocolove intercepted.

"Summoning a meteor is hard. And it's too noticeable since Misaki can probably use her eidolons to destroy it and Yoh's Spirit of the Sword," Faust suggested. "Yoh. Your Spirit of the Sword is powerful. The man you saw, and Melissa. They know it's powerful. But they know also how to avoid, counter, and dodge it. Using it properly would greatly affect their progress in whatever they're doing." Faust explained.

"But Misaki and Vivi need to find more eidolons to help them out." Anna said. Vivi nodded.

"We've traced an eidolon in the Statue of Liberty. It's on Ellis Island." Vivi explained. "But the man and Eve can seem to trace them too in what I've detected. It's best we get to the Statue first. The two wouldn't even dare stepping out in the daylight. The city is going crazy over all of this and most of Manhattan has already been evacuated."

"Any other traces of the eidolons?" Yoh asked.

"Yes. One is detected at the Ground Zero area of Manhattan. It's where many people have evacuated but there will be a cop or two wandering around there. That's the best time to get it." Vivi explained.

"We'll split in three groups." Yoh got the map of NYC and a pen and a few post-it notes. "The groups will be made up of a combination to separate people from their usual two's to raise the cooperation level."

"Sounds kind of advance for you to talk that way." Horohoro explained. Yoh smiled weakly.

"Anyways…me, Misaki, Ryu, and Horohoro will go to Ellis Island to retrieve the eidolon detected. Ren, Vivi, Anna, Pilica, you four head to Ground Zero. Anna can summon the eidolon's hiding place and Vivi can seal it. Tamao, Chocolove, Manta, Faust, you four head to the NYPD press conference and get any addresses of laboratories used so we can track down Melissa's mitochondria and whoever the man was."

"Never knew these streets were quite empty," Ryu thought as the ferry boat raced towards Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty was a grand sight to see from where they were.

"I hate cold weather here, but snow is good," Horohoro grinned having a few snow drops fall into his warm glove.

"Can you sense it?" Yoh asked.

"It's faint though. That may be very bad. No wonder Melissa probably didn't want to come here. She probably wouldn't waste the time finding it. But then it could be extremely powerful." She looked at the sea. "I think I'm getting seasick."

The four hid behind the alley.

"Too close." Pilica muttered.

"It is all your carelessness." Ren muttered walking first out of the alley. He raised his hand signaling it was clear as the three got up walking out of the alley. Carrying the map, Anna studied it for a moment.

"Four blocks from here." She counted. "Picked up anything yet, Vivi?"

"Yeah. It's hard to detect though," he admitted. "Fortunately it'd be easier since you can pick it up much easier."

"But you need to tell me the name of it so I know."

"Good. So four out of the twelve of you arrived for the press conference." The cop nodded. "This way." He led them to the press room where there were three people sitting in their chairs with notepads ready to start an interview.

"What are your names? By the way, my name is Yuzura. These are my colleagues, Kieko and Midori." The two waved.

"My name is Tamao Tamamura."

"Chocolove."

"Manta Oyamada."

"Faust."

"Oyamada? The one with the famous company?" Kieko asked.

"Yeah," Manta replied.

"Alright. Continuing on, we heard about this woman named Eve who is an actress named Melissa Pearce that was starring as Cornelia in I Want To Be Your Canary." Midori started.

"Yes."

"Everyone else was dead except for you twelve. We've tested your DNA and blood samples and they are pretty much the same as everyone else's is." Yuzura stated. "By any way, are you working for Eve?"

"No. I didn't even know who Melissa Pearce was until you mentioned her name." Chocolove countered.

"I see. And you," Kieko looked at Tamao. "were again one of the two only sole survivors."

"Everyone was turned into slime of some sort," Tamao explained. "Somehow, me and Yoh were not affected by it. Maybe if scientists had a closer look, probably there are alters in our DNA."

"But that isn't my point, Miss," Kieko snapped. "Do you think in any way this is a super natural force or an unknown parasite we need to get rid of that only cause damage to certain people?"

"Perhaps." Faust answered. "Even if you don't believe us, I mean, I'm pretty sure a large ball of slime isn't that hard to hide for someone who's keeping it."

"And the incident of animals missing from the zoo," Midori brought up.

"You think I could have freed all of those animals in public while everyone could have seen me?" Tamao asked.

"No." Yuzura replied quickly. "And there was a strange sighting of a giant water monster?" Tamao gulped. Everyone stared at her.

"Man, I've never been afraid of heights as this before," Horohoro complained.

"Oh shut up, you wuss! You complain too much!" Misaki snapped as they went up even further step by step. She couldn't help but shudder against the shaky height too.

"Do you know how long it's been since we started climbing from stair one?" Ryu asked.

"Will you both shut up?!" Misaki screamed, her voice echoing across the statue.

"And why couldn't you have used your Pheonix to help us reach to the top?" Horohoro asked.

"Because then I wouldn't know where the eidolon would be! That's why we have to climb to the top step by step so we could see if it is in this part of the statue!" Misaki screamed again. "Why do I have to put up with amateurs like you?"

"Shut up," Horohoro growled.

"But don't worry, dear," Misaki smirked. Horohoro clenched his fists trying to hold back the anger. "After we reach to the top, I'll have Carbuncle and Shiva search the rest of the top if we don't find anything. Once we get it, we'll use Quezacotl to fly back down and no!" she yelled at Yoh who was turning his head to ask her something. "I haven't sensed ANYTHING yet! So look back up!" he shuddered looking back up.

The rest sighed and continued on.

"This site is awfully too big for us to find anything." Pilica mentioned.

"Now don't give up hope," Vivi said brightly. "We can split up or stay together here."

"Bad idea." Ren said. "It would make things worst since cops, the man, and Eve are around."

"Yes." Anna raised her necklace. "The first is your father. Second for your brother. Shaman arise!" The entire site seemed to be extremely quiet for six long seconds until the dust swirled and burst into the air. Vivi held one of Misaki's golden and ruby bracelets [ruby to hold the eidolon, gold to keep it sealed until summoner calls it so it doesn't run around.

"Throw it in here." Vivi instructed. And the spirit was awfully giant even in its miniscule form as the necklace 'net' caught the spirit. Anna swung her necklace and threw the spirit into the bracelet. Vivi began to get sent back by the explosion until Ren caught the mage as it hit his knees. In two seconds, the entire spirit was entirely absorbed into the bracelet.

"Mission accomplished!" Pilica cheered.

"Hey! You kids. What are you doing here?" a cop asked. Two other cops were with him too. The three were immediately sliced in half as Anna, Vivi, and Pilica looked at them in surprise and then at Ren who was holding his Bushin.

"We can't have witnesses." He remarked. "they'll get suspicious wondering why we're still even here in Manhattan and at Ground Zero in the first place."

"I agree." Vivi admitted. "Let's get going."

"We made it!" Misaki ran towards the balcony looking out at the Manhattan skyscrapers. "Wow! What a view! America is so much better than Japan," she clapped her hands. Horohoro, Yoh, and Ryu, reached to the top behind her panting heavily. Their expressions changed as they as soon saw the beautiful view of New York.

"Sugoi!" Horohoro, Yoh, and Ryu hung towards the balcony looking out. A cold wave flushed throughout the balcony room. Misaki was the only one out of the five that felt the cold wave. She fumbled weakly and fell backwards crashing into the concrete. Blood began to flow from her head and her wrist immediately broke trying to hold herself.

"Misaki?!" Horohoro and Yoh rushed over.

"I'm alright." She muttered. She smiled weakly. "Summoner's test." She allowed the two help her up. "At the torch." She pointed. "It feels like Siren. Her specialty is silencing. It could cut off people's thoughts from keeping them thinking clearly or making them fall asleep." She shook her head.

"Looking at the long arm with the torch, she sighed.

"Here." She searched her bracelets picking out a third one. "You, one of you take this and get to the torch."

"I'll do it." Horohoro volunteered. Everyone nodded.

"Land on the top. Hold the bracelet in the air and recite," she took a small earring out of her skirt pocket and held it out as the small crystal formed into a floating black glob sphere. Strange Hebrewic words in deep crimson scanned quickly and stopped on one letter for two seconds before it scanned against topping on another.

"Seal. Silence. Sea. Gills. Harp." The black ball blasted out of the window as the entire island was surrounded by what seemed like a dark shield.

"What---?"

"Shield. To make sure nothing gets in or out. The process of direct sealing the eidolon lasts for two minutes. This is very crucial into properly sealing it. If the eidolon threatens to break free, destroy connect by saying end, eidolon, aeon. The shield also prevents any other types of distraction while you're performing the sealing process. And lastly, it keeps the outside world from seeing what is going on. To them, it'd be as if there was nothing there at all."

"I have the best balance," Horohoro bragged taking the bracelet. Misaki with Yoh's help got to the balcony. "Summon Pheonix." The silhouette of the bird traveled across the ground as it came alive. The Pheonix flew quickly to the top of the Statue, its talons gripping against the side of the balcony. The Shaman shuddered for a moment as Ryu, Misaki, and Yoh encouraged him. Reluctantly, he hopped on the bird's neck, that lowered for him after Misaki teased him calling him a wuss.

"Take him to the torch and remain there for 120 seconds plus 10 seconds." Misaki instructed quickly. Horohoro waved as the bird took off and flew towards the torch. He recalled the words to himself. "Seal. Silence. Sea. Gills. Harp."

Horohoro jumped off as soon as the Pheonix had landed on the torch. Raising the bracelet in the air, he recalled the words. "Seal Silence." The ground began to glow. The bracelet's ruby stone began to glow as well. Horohoro gulped and continued on. "Sea. Gills. Harp." Three sections of the torch burst with red swirling mist as he held up the bracelet high into the air.

"Twenty seconds so far." Ryu nodded looking at his watch. The mist now swirled and one half loop in the air before slamming into the stone of the ruby. Horohoro struggled holding the ruby/gold bracelet with the force pushing it.

"Sixty-three seconds."

"This is the most crucial part of the sealing process." Misaki acknowledged. "It only lasts twenty seconds. This decides the eidolon's decision. And it knows I am the one trying to seal it with another person's help."

"Seventy-four seconds."

The blast was almost too strong for him to bear. The swirling mist shifted to purple and slowly to blue. Now, the mist shifted to purple and slowly to blue. Now, the mist shifted swirling altogether before entering the crystal.

"102 seconds."

Horohoro felt the weight slightly dropping ounce by ounce. The first swirl of the mist had finally blown out lightening the entire weight off by a lot.

"112 seconds."

The second swirl began to fade as the bracelet began to weigh lighter than ever.

"119 seconds, 120 seconds." And the last mist disappeared.

"Miss Tamamura, again. About the Broadway incident and the Central Park, can you please describe the two suspects you've mentioned?" Yuzura asked. "I'll be the one asking questions now since it may be too overwhelming for you, if you don't mind."

"Umm…well…like I said. One of them is the actress, Melissa Pearce. The other man…he didn't really look like a man at first."

"Are you suggesting he crossdresses?" Kieko asked.

"Perhaps. He wore some eye shadow, had long healthy silver hair, wore a weird outfit that showed lots of skin especially in places where women only show. But he was definetely a man no doubt in my mind about that." Tamao explained confidently. Chocolove was practically snoring right now. Manta fiddled with his fingers as Faust listened attentively hoping to pick up something.

"Do you remember anyone else with him besides Melissa Pearce?" Yuzura asked.

"Yes." Tamao answered.

"Describe any other suspects in both incidents, please." Yuzura requested.

"A demon."

"P…Pardon?" The trio blinked.

"She said a demon." Faust repeated polishing Eliza's skull. The trio shuddered wondering where he got it but dismissed it.

"Demon that was probably twenty feet tall with giant black wings with a total span of sixty feet."

"Are you sure with what you saw? And what about the water monster spotted? Are they the same or you've just got them mixed up?" Yuzura asked as if she believed Tamao was mentally ill or dellusional.

"I'm very positive. The water demon seemed to have tried to go against the demon, the man, and Melissa. It was no illusion. There was already evidence of leftovers from the orange substance and damages from what were 'sharp metal'." Tamao defied. The room stayed silent for a moment as Yuzura, Kieko, and Midori took down some notes.

"Thank you, all of you. We'd like to see you and Mr. Asakura this Sunday if it is possible. Thank you very much for your time." Yuzura expressed her gratitude.

"Yeah…like we really care." Chocolove muttered quietly to himself as the four exited the room.

Back at the hotel where the eight met back, the group that went to the conference didn't finish that quickly! Discussed about the two eidolons sealed.

"Itakos can shorten the process of sealing. But you need someone with some specialty eidolon powers to hold it too. But a summoner can perform both actions at once." Misaki explained lying against the couch.

"Do you know which one this is?" Vivi raised up giving the bracelet to her. Misaki inspected the ruby stone for a minute.

"Madeen." Vivi whistled, and most took it as if it was a good thing.

"Excellent. I can begin my trials as soon as possible." Misaki relaxed.

"Trials?!?!"

"She has to sleep for three days." Anna explained. "Although it seems more like a coma to me." A few snorts of laughter. "The summoner needs those three days to connect with the eidolon and learn its ability. That's the only way he/she can make him/her/it theirs." Vivi nodded.

"What about the dance?" Pilica asked.

"It'll be just in time. Besides. I still need to recover from my wounds," Misaki pointed to her head and her broken wrist. "I may not be able to dance too well within three days but maybe during my trials, I could ask Siren or Madeen to heal my wrist," she smiled brightly, like everything was going to be alright, like Yoh…

"What do you do in your trials?" Horohoro questioned.

"Umm…I don't know. The eidolon questions you and all. You can't really fail the trials but you could loose their respect and never gain their full ability if you disrespect them and that kind of stuff." Misaki said.

"Why didn't you---?"

"Because we thought it could really traumatize her in believing there may be another summoner." Tamao explained. "Sorry Vivi. It's not like we didn't want to."

"I understand…" Vivi nodded slowly. "Description?"

"…Looked like a demon-man. Very muscular." Tamao said providing every single little detail she hadn't told to the trio at the press conference. "It had really big black wings. Its body was more red-black kind of type. Had the devil's horns in a more neo-kind-of-version. I don't think I he had a tail and he came from a black ball in the sky that had purple and dark orange engraved onto them and spun sort of." She recalled. Yoh nodded.

"Did they ask you about the water demon? It was kind of big." He asked.

"Asshole! This isn't the time to talk about that!" Horohoro yelled. Yoh blinked but just broke a carefree smile.

"Wow. Dark Messenger, Diablos." Vivi replied. "Came from the essence of Hyperion."

"What the---?"

"Some kind of Arabic genie in a bottle monster from another dimension called Hyperion." Vivi said. "Manta, you need another encyclopedia."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN!?!?!"

"Here's a summoner's encylcopedia on all the eidolons discovered so far and some that may are those may-be myths." Vivi handed it to him out of nowhere.

"WHAT THE HELL?!?!"

"Read it. You're a smart kid." Vivi said. Everyone giggled at the little mage.

"So." Ren finally spoke. Everyone looked at him. But Ren was only looking at the golden eyes of the mage. Golden eyes staring back at golden eyes. "Do you have that book of eidolons?" Vivi fumbled with his 'fingers'.

"No. The library has a few copies of the book of eidolons. Many people don't believe in them since the population of summoners has decreased in such few numbers. Let's say about a few hundred or so in this current world."

"Then let's get the book. Can we purchase it somehow?" Yoh thought. "I'm not going to pay for overdue fines."

"Well…" Manta shook his feet. "I could ask my dad to get me a book on it. Several copies so we all can tell what to do."

"Great idea Manta." Anna complimented for once. Everyone blinked in surprise. She ignored it. "Call your parents up now. The sooner in three days, the better. We aren't going to be staying too long here in America anyways." Anna remarked.

"Umm…okay. I'll go call my parents now. See ya in a minute." Manta dashed to his room.

"…What now?" Tamao sighed. "Misaki has already begun her trials, Manta is calling his parents for several questions on getting the eidolon books."

"Do they have an eidolon encyclopedia CD?" Horohoro mentioned.

"No." Vivi explained. "No one would waste their time on trying to put them into a CD. Besides, there are still many eidolons unknown. It's not like the ones in the encyclopedia are the only ones that exist."

"What are eidolons?" Ren asked.

"Evolved forms. Evolved forms of unknown beings that scatter throughout space and time." Vivi said. "That's the theory. No one really knows who they are and why they're there and only serve summoners. Summoners did try to research on that one time, but a big eye in the sky destroyed the city of the summoners and all their past records and studies. The project was never finished." He said.


	6. kaaaaarma

In the dead of the night: Chapter 6

"So do I say hi Madeen? Siren? You know you gave me a really hard time trying to control you," Misaki snorted. Siren appeared before her.

"I see." Siren giggled. "Summoner's trials don't last for three days. It's just three days the most if we usually approve of you mentally. You need to be physically and mentally fit enough for us to believe we are serving a worthy summoner."

"I agree, kupo!"

"Kupo?" Misaki looked at…Madeen. Who was a seemed to look like a small cat with short arms and legs, can stand on both feet like a normal human, had one antenna with a red poofy ball at the end, and small bat wings. It had no tail either.

"Slang, kupo!!" The cat got mad. "I'm a Moogle! Call me Mogi!" it flew around in excitement.

"Mogi? Can't I name you like Poopsie?"

"NO, KUPO!" The moogle shouted so loud it slightly stung her ears. Siren giggled in amusement. "MOGI! MOGI! MOGI!"

"Got your point there, Mog." Misaki sat down. "So one way that you can approve of me is if I confront you mentally. Let you get a piece of my mind?" she looked at Siren and the floating Moogle.

"If that is the way you look at it," Siren shrugged.

"Alright…well this Saturday, we have a dance thing. I'm really pissed off since first of all I have to share a room with this Asian, Chinese kid named Tao Ren." Misaki said. "And he's trying to make love to me or something because he mentioned something about…temptation?!?!"

"Wow. That boy must really like you." Siren smiled. "Have you given up yet?"

"What are you, kidding?" Misaki opened her mouth to swear but stayed silent grumbling know what will happen. "No I haven't. My friend Shiva has been backing me up a lot. Without her help, I'd be dead."

"Shiva, huh?" Siren nodded. "I'm related to her. She is my cousin. Some eidolons do relate to one another." Misaki nodded seemingly interested.

"So then is Madeen related to Ifrit, Pandemona, or Typoon?"

"HELL NO, KUPO!!!" Mogi screamed.

"Calm down, Mogi-chan. It's called a joke. I, as your summoner need to teach you that!" Misaki ordered. Mogi grumbled but flew over and sat in her lap.

"My name is Madeen, fat-head! And no one makes fun of me!" it seemed to have folded like a bossy, spoiled very cute little kid.

"Alright, alright." Misaki hugged the little Moogle. "Hey! Don't you think you should be my little pal too next to Vivi?"

"Heh?"

"Keeping a cute little Moogle. Having a mage and then a Moogle. It could be like double fun!" Misaki clapped her hands.

"Alright…" Mogi thought. "It won't be too bad. But the mage is with you too often. I'll be like that but not as often! Got that?"

"Yeah, yeah." Misaki smiled weakly. Mogi leaned back as if sleeping.

"Don't wake me up, okay?"

"Right." Misaki looked up at Siren. "So…after the formal dance, we're going to have a casual party. We're going there actually. Horohoro said it'd be lots of fun. You think Tao is going to try anything?"

"I don't know him too well. Perhaps you shouldn't be with him too often."

"Don't you think I've tried." She stared lamely. "It's kind of hard since we're all suppose to be together."

"You know what?" Siren sat down a few feet in front of her. "Maybe try giving in?"

"NEVER!" Misaki screamed fumed. Siren giggled. Mogi disappeared. "Cool. I passed Mogi's trial." She grinned.

"The time here in your mind has gone by extremely fast. It's been a day since you had started the trials."

"Wow. And it only seemed like I'd only been here for ten minutes." Misaki smiled. "At least I won't be the one that has to wait!"

"Pretty prideful, aren't you?" Siren asked. Misaki nodded.

"I'm trying to prove that bastard that women can be just as strong as men. Probably even stronger. That bakamono." Misaki grumbled. "Thinks he can get whatever he want."

"He seems like he's winning at it too," Siren said honestly. "Maybe you should tell him to stop."

"Then it would show who's weaker!!" Misaki laid back. "Moving on, do you have any secrets and hints on letting me know where I can find the strongest eidolons." Misaki whispered with a grin.

"Mmm…perhaps just one." Siren thought. "Alright. But what eidolon are you looking for?" she asked.

"EDEN!!"

"Oh my! Well…" Siren thought over and over. "Eden refers to a garden, right? A very big royal garden! Palace gardens."

"Thanks!" Misaki grinned. "Can I ask one more that is NOT an ultimate eidolon?"

"…Alright." Siren answered. "Who is it?"

"Valefor and Zuu!" Misaki grinned.

"Think about their names." Siren said. "Valefor is a sea bird. So think by the beach. Zuu is a bird of blue thunder. Maybe places where thunder and blue skies both appear at the same time perhaps?" Siren hinted. "That's all I'll say. My mouth is shut from this point on."

"Thanks sooo much!" Misaki hopped up and down.

"That's it."

"What's it?"

"You're done. I approve of you as my summoner." Siren nodded before disappearing.

"Cool!" Misaki grinned as she disappeared too returning to the real world.

Blue eyes fluttered opened and winced at the bright moonlight.

"Awake?"

"Bleeh!" Misaki sat up and an instant human reflex made her move away but the arms wrapped around her waist before she could do anything. The other arm traveled up her back, the mouth whispering in her ear.

"It looks like your summoner's trials are over." The Shaman whispered serenely. "I'm glad you're back."

"So am I." Misaki hugged him back joyfully but realized it would backfire as he pushed her gently back down against the bed, him almost completely on top of her but only is hand rested against above her chest. "And this is what I get for coming back after how many days?"

"Two and a half." Ren said.

"It seemed only like ten minutes to me." Misaki admitted. "I'm tired, Ren-kun. Can I get some sleep, please?" she asked with puppy eyes. Ren smiled seducively. She hated that smile. It always made her shudder. He felt her frightening shudder and grinned, the moonlight capturing the perfect jaw line of her youthful face and her body.

"…May I sleep with you?" he asked.

"Me…wha…wh.what for?!?!" she asked bewildered.

"It's not much to ask. I won't do anything. Will you let me?" The moon also seemed to have captured the perfect shape of his body. Misaki noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt but was wearing some baggy slacky pants.

"…" she thought about it for a moment staring into the deep golden eyes that seemed to have hungered for a lot more. 'Not going there.' She blushed and wondered if the moon can capture how brightly she had blushed. "…H…Hai. But you better not try anything, bastard. I can summon my eidolons without having to say anything! You hear?!?!" she warned.

Ren grinned nodding in agreement pulling himself under the bed sheets lying right next to her. Almost too close. Misaki blushed about to turn the other way that is, until he caught her and pulled her closer to him.

She hung their in his warm embrace for a few minutes nervously before settling down. 'Maybe it isn't so bad after all.' She thought about Siren's words. 'Maybe it isn't wrong just to give in…but that will still disprove me.'

She closed her eyes going to sleep.

"Good morning!" Misaki got up stretching her arms.

"You didn't have to wake me up now," Ren muttered turning away from the sunlight. Misaki looked over.

"Well, bastard, it's seven AM! People like you, I thought would be getting up this early. I bet your momma wakes you up!" she pointed. Ren got up and out of bed, storming off angrily to the bathroom and slamming the door behind him.

"Good way to work things!" she got up quickly changing thinking about last night. "…He…must have stayed next to the bedside making sure I was okay…" she chuckled. "Baka."

"Welcome back Misaki!" Yoh's face lit up the first thing when he saw her enter the lobby of the suite.

"Yeah." Misaki shook her head.

"How was your trials, Misaki-sama?" Tamao asked.

"Wonderful. Acquired Madeen and Siren and no one else can use them but ME ME ME ME!!!" she grinned happily. Yoh smiled genuinely while everyone else nodded with a cartoonish sweatdrop. "So what has been going on since I've been gone?" she jumped down the platform sitting next to Horohoro and hugged Vivi resting her arm around his shoulder.

"We were talking about eidolons while you had your trials," Manta said. "See those books?" he pointed towards the table. Misaki noted the five eidolon books. "My dad sent copies of a few eidolon books that still exist today but they only have them in libraries and bookstores."

"Cool!" Misaki ran over to the center of the lobby, sat down crossing her legs, opening up the one with a swastika symbol. "Funky. Don't recognize it," she admitted flipping through a few pages. Horohoro, Anna, Vivi, Yoh, and Manta looked down hoping to get some answers to the eidolon book.

"Ah!' Misaki stopped on one page. Everyone took it by surprise and looked over. "This is the Nazi records of eidolons. Germany is the country that possessed very powerful eidolons to fight against other countries. U.S. though contains a few of the strongest eidolons possibly better than Germany. But Germany uses their prisoners and perform medical eidolon experiments on their prisoners to see if people can make powerful eidolons."

"Ick…" most of them recoiled.

"I recognize this one though. Jecht." She read a few of the words while most read their language but a lot of important words were left out in German. "Jecht is one strongest eidolons Nazi Germany had. Basically Hitler's pet eidolon." She flipped through the books continuously trying to find an eidolon she can recognize. "Another one! Lich. Another of those Nazi experiments. It basically represents the deaths of prisoners and can summon those spirits and as many of them. Then there's Silf. Eidolon of life. Mussolini's pet eidolon. And that's all I know so far." She said closing it. She took up the next one and began examining the cover.

"This looks like the encyclopedia of eidolons." She explained opening it up. "This book is in Hebrew. I know a little bit of Hebrew since eidolons are somehow vital to the Hebrew and the Muslim culture for some reason. Here's Adel. Aeris…Alexander…Ark. Yeah! I have Alexander!" she clapped her hands together reading through Alexander's profile. Everyone nodded in slight confusion. "I can't summon Alexander for some reason." She explained. "It said I gained his ability but I can't summon him somehow. Said that he's too powerful for one person to handle so the other half is with someone else."

She looked through. "Something like…having two halves meet in a giant city that doesn't want to advance in time thus usually trying to be isolated. There are a few cities who are like that. Alexandria, Lindbulum, Cleyra, and Burmecia."

"So we go there?" Horohoro asked.

"NOO!!!" Misaki screamed. Everyone winced. "I already own ½ of Alexander. There's no point going there." She flipped a few pages pointing a few the eidolons she recognize and maybe one that she owns. "I want Ark really badly. One of the best eidolons owned by U.S." she flipped pages until Tamao and Yoh yelled at her to stop.

"This is the eidolon we saw at Central Park." Yoh pointed at the picture.

"Eidolon?" Misaki questioned.

"Yes. What's its name?" Tamao asked.

"D…Diablos." Misaki translated the Muslim letters. "What eidolon? Who was the summoner?" Misaki asked.

"We don't know his name."

"He? Describe him."

"Don't really remember…" Yoh admitted. "Sorry."

Misaki nodded. "He's with Eve, isn't he?"

"Yeah." Tamao admitted too.

"Anyways," she flipped a few pages. "EDEN!" she pointed at the Hebrewic letters. "REALLY powerful eidolon!! U.S. got the eidolon but they never needed any use of it so they casted it away because it may become a temptation for use of war."

"The dance is today, huh?" Misaki sighed. "And you are the asshole I have to go with?" she sighed again. Ren muttered something but Misaki didn't bother asking what it was. "Don't worry, Ren-kun!" she grinned. "I already found my outfit so I don't have to drag a stubborn kid like you around." Ren stayed silent resting against his bed.

"You are taking this seriously, aren't you?" Ren asked.

"Of course, I am!" Misaki scolded. Her voice died down immediately. "But it's nice to have a break from worries once in a while. Why can't _you_ do that?"

"Because," he rolled over to face her standing across the other side of the room arranging her clothes in her travel case. "with enemies as powerful as they are, it isn't a good idea to turn our backs on them even for a moment. Their strikes seem quite random. Sure they're hitting places with crowded people but Time Square is full of people everyday. Can't they just strike Time Square whenever they feel like it?" Misaki stayed silent.

"I just forgot!" she jumped off her bed. "I have to call my foster parents up. Did I forget to mention that I'm ¾ Japanese and ¼ German with a bit of Korean and Islamic blood?"

"Nice mixture." Ren thought. "Your name is all Japanese."

"My middle name came from my real mother. Misaki Siebzehn Siinji!" she beamed proudly. "And yours is just plain old Tao. What time is it?"

"3:00," Ren answered. "Party's at 6:00."

"Alright. I'll call my parents first!" she picked up the phone dialing a few numbers. Ren only stared out the window not minding.

"What nationality are your foster parents?"

"German. Friends from my mother's side." Misaki explained. "Did you know that I'm fluent in four languages? Hebrew, English, German, and Japanese? Not to mention a bit of French and Islamic."

"Really." He said without the slightest interest.

"And YOU are only fluent in three! Japanese, Chinese, and English!" she beamed proudly. "I'm trying to finish up my Islamic courses first so I can read all those eidolon books and then I can finish my reading vocabulary of Japanese kanji, katakana, and the Hebrewic vocabulary."

"You sound very intelligent." He mentioned sarcastically.

"Shut up! I take great pride in my languages. German and Japanese and English weren't too hard since I grew up in those enviornments."

"If you seem so smart…why don't you just skip a couple grades?"

"Jealous, aren't ya?" she demanded. "I'm only good in grammar, english, and language subjects. Math…" she smiled weakly. "isn't my thing. Anyways, I have to call them up now! So shut up!" she screamed before she finished dialing the other numbers. "You're paying the phone bill, dumkopf, for insulting me!"

The other line picked up the phone.

"Guten Morgan!" she wailed happily. Ren winced to the sudden jump of her tone.

"That was a good one." Tamao thought sitting down with Horohoro. "What was that song called?"

"Ehh…" Horohoro opened up the program menu. "it's called Sonmia Memorias."

"Horohoro?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you worry about Ren-sama?" Tamao asked. Horohoro shrugged.

"He hasn't been himself too much lately. Maybe because of the challenge. Besides. If Yoh can defeat Kuja and get his head, he could get admitted back in the tournament again. And Melissa also." He explained.

"Wow. That's excellent news!" Tamao took a bite out of the fish. "American food here tastes awfully different."

"I know. I like it too!" Horohoro gulped down a lot of beef. "The food here is really great. Let's see. The next song here is…Waltz for the Moon."

"Sounds like a nice song."

"Yeah. It'll be playing five minutes later. The girl isn't here yet." He said looking towards the ballroom entrance where Ren stood. "What do you think of Misaki?" Horohoro asked Tamao.

"She is quite a pleasant girl if you ask me." Tamao admitted. Horohoro winced to her answer. "She does seem to like teasing you, Ren, and Chocolove. She does that to Manta, Ryu, and Yoh also. And Anna."

"You are damn lucky she doesn't harass you." Horohoro admitted. "She's like Satan on earth. Scary." He shuddered.

"I don't think she is that bad." Tamao defended. "She is very intelligent though. She is fluent in speaking four different languages and learning how to master reading Japanese kanji, katakana, and Hebrew. Taking Islamic and French classes and is more than half a way finished with Islamic." Tamao mentioned.

"It's nice to learn many languages, but I bet she knows how to swear in every single language known to man!" Horohoro gulped down some more of the cooked corn. Tamao nodded politely eating some more.

"Hey. I'm kind of bored eating for the moment." Tamao mentioned. "Is it alright if you we can dance another round?"

"…I guess." Horohoro set his food down.

"This is one of my favorite songs." Yoh mentioned as the two circled once, he released her and Anna came back to him. "I mean…for a dance theme."

"Looks like Misaki isn't here yet." Anna said in her calm manner.

"Stop looking so calm and bored Anna. You should have some fun. There's nothing to be serious about," Yoh grinned. Anna nodded as Yoh felt her movements ease a little. As soon as the chorus hit, he noticed Misaki finally entering a bit late as the two danced as well.

"You're looking at them," Anna said intimidatingly.

"Just making sure a friend doesn't get left out." Yoh grinned back at her. "This song also has the best steps. I mean, no one can get confused although it looks complicating."

"Hai."

"You're late." Ren mentioned. Misaki grinned. The entire ballroom's dancing couples all twirled together in exact harmony, the ball gowns perfectly following their wearer's moves.

"I know. It takes a while to find the pin incase of the dress can get a little big." Misaki explained.

"I don't see why you girls worry about being thin." Ren released the arm around her waist. Misaki followed the moves exactly and came back to him, feet going in harmony of the chorus of the song.

"Besides, I don't want to miss out on my favorite dancing theme!" she smiled. The song began to fade into a different one as all the couples stopped at a different time seemingly screwing up the theme. It seemed to be a quick Spanish dancing theme. "Looks like we need a lot of cooperation for this."

Many people began to follow the complicating dancing steps. Anna and Yoh seemed to have graced each step perfectly as well as Misaki and Ren were. Horohoro and Tamao seemed to have got it quite well. Chocolove and Pilica whom were watching the dancing floor with interest didn't decide to join for the quick Spanish theme. Ryu and some other girl seemed to have slightly managed.

"I think I like this song." Anna admitted. Yoh nodded.

"It must be complicating to be the girl." He thought.

"It isn't too bad if you like doing this steps."

Misaki leaned back against the seats refusing a few guys' requests of dancing with them. She loved the song playing now but a girl needs a break once in a while. And she couldn't help but admit she got lost from the group in the dancing floor of the club.

Deciding to get up and walk through the crowd of dancing thirteen and fourteen year olds, a hand grabbed her wrist as she turned around seeing who it was.

"Hey." The fourteen year old waved. "Do you want to dance?" Twelfth kid to ask her. Like a lot of guys, he was hot. Misaki shook her head.

"Follow me first," she demanded. 'Damned kids. If I look single they all come charging. Just looking like I have one guy will make all of them back off'. The guy nodded following her. "I'm trying to find a few of my friends!" she screamed on top of her lungs against the deafening music.

"Got separated?" he asked. Misaki turned and nodded. "Yeah. With a dance club this big, it's kind of easy too."

Within minutes, Misaki realized the boy wasn't behind her anymore. 'Must have lost him'. Misaki smiled to herself and continued walking across the dance floor finding anyone that she recognized. No one. She tapped on a guy's shoulder who was dancing with another girl.

"Sorry to interrupt." Misaki said.

"No problem." The girl answered for him. "As long as you don't steal my guy." The both smiled. "What's up?"

"I'm kind of lost. We're on the third story, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much." The girl rested her hands on her hips tired slightly from all of the dancing.

"What are the two stories below us and the two above us?" Misaki asked.

"Well, the first story which is the ground floor is the lobby. Nothing really happens there. You check-in and all that kind of stuff. Second story is a public bar and dance floor for older people. On top of us, the fourth story is where people who aren't straight go to. You get the idea." The trio laughed.

"The fifth story is the swimming pool, spa, recreation." The guy finished. "Usually, new people would hang out somewhere around the entrance of the room. It should be over that way." The guy pointed behind her.

"Alright. Thanks!" Misaki thanked.

"No problem. Have a good time," the girl and the guy waved before continuing with the beat.

Misaki walked her way through ignoring guys' requests. A sudden thing had finally struck her like death. Heat. Realizing the strange heat feeling it rise in temperature all the sudden, she dashed across the dance floor not caring who she knocked over or bumped along the way until she tripped over a foot and fell on someone by accident.

"You can watch where you're going, girl." An irritated voice snapped at her. Misaki immediately pushed herself up embarassed realizing who she accidently knocked over.

"Anta baka?!?! We're leaving!" she yelled jumping up. Ren got up at the same time.

"Where?" he asked.

"Heat." She only needed to say one word to spark up terror. "Besides, never seen you wear something like this," she noted the baggy collared shirt left unbuttoned showing his evenly-built chest and the baggy pants with the long one million yen pendant as Misaki would call it.

"Whatever." Ren shrugged off. "The others are downstairs. Basically, Yoh and Horohoro were giving up trying to find you."

"And you were going to leave without me?!?!" she raised her hand to slap him. Ren grabbed her wrist before she was able to do so.

"We leave." He ran out of the room. Misaki reluctantly ran after him. Ren pushed the button for the elevator as it opened revealing no one inside. He waited for Misaki to catch up. She ran in first, he went in after her as the elevator doors automatically closed. "They're here, aren't they?" he asked.

"I…guess so. I mean, the heat was so sudden!" Misaki said urging him to believe her. He didn't seem to believe her so far. "You didn't feel it?" He shook his head. Misaki sighed.

"The other day, Anna was talking to me. This was some time ago. The Asakura family wants Yoh's older brother to get a fiancee also. That is…if he decides to come back to them. But they need someone first. They're hoping maybe finding some for him would help take him back home and everything would be okay." Ren nodded once.

"Anna said they'd be looking for extremely powerful candidates who can be more than half as close to Hao's power. Of course, no one can convince Jeanne, I mean, Tamao to them was a great option but it doesn't work out since she isn't half as strong."

"So they chose you as a candidate." Ren finished. Misaki looked up for a moment sitting down on the elevator floor. She looked down against the grey metal.

"Yeah. I mean…I don't see why I was chosen. I'm not that great of a Shaman. I'm not even a Shaman. I have no Over Soul powers except for Alexander which could only last for thirty seconds, and I'm going to have to meet with them as soon as the vacation is over." Ren didn't answer but only stared against the door as if expecting a ghost to scare the shit out of them.

"You're probably wondering why I told you this." Misaki placed a hand against the ground, moving her index finger as if writing out a word. Ren saw that it spelled out as 'family'. "You're the only I could actually talk to. Talking to Tamao and Pilica would feel like I'm communicating with a minor, someone lower than me. Yoh wouldn't understand too well, I don't care about what Ana thinks since she was probably a happy brat when she got chosen. Horohoro would think its too weird, Ryu is too old, Faust doesn't know these kind of relations---"

"I get your point." Ren silenced her. "You get selected. You aren't a student of theirs. So you have a choice if you want to decline the engagement. That simple." Misaki nodded with a slight smile.

"Maybe I should meet with him first. I mean, it's not like he's going to try to kill me at first sight or anything." Misaki smiled weakly. "Ren? Is he hot?"

"Ask Yoh," Ren bit down on his teeth. "You're asking if a guy if he thinks another guy is hot."

"Oh yeah." Misaki smiled cheerfully standing up. "What's wrong with this piece of crap? It's like, moving really really slow." She kicked against the door. As if the elevator responded it shook.

The elevator shifted. But it shifted too much as the entire elevator rumbled. "KUSOTARRE!!!" the elevator cable snapped as it fell down to the first floor slamming hard against the ground. Ren was thrown over to Misaki's side as the elevator had tilted that way. He placed his arms above her guarding her against the falling rubble, gritting his teeth against the sharp concrete that cut against his back. Misaki guarded herself from the flying dust and sharp metal that cut her bare arms.

As soon as everything stayed still and stopped, Ren released his breath and breathed rapidly falling next to her facing up against the high ceiling.

"Are you alright?" Misaki asked concerned in a motherly way. "Damn. I only brought two eidolons with me. I didn't think we're going to be facing something like this."

"…S…See what I mean?" he managed to speak. "Which ones?"

"Let's see…" Misaki checked. "Shiva and Cerberus."

"Not too good. I thought you would have brought someone like Aeris or Pheonix."

"Didn't think I was going to need them." Misaki sighed. "I'll get Cerberus to help us out." Misaki said. "Summon Cerberus." She spoke quietly. Soon enough, the concrete lifted and pushed back by a giant red three-headed dog. "Over here," she called out to it. "This is the only eidolon I have that is controlled by my mitochondria. I can use Carbuncle to transform also."

Cerberus broke through the pile of rubble as Misaki called upon Shiva. Some concrete flew back from the ice pillar as Shiva came alive through it picking Ren up. He shuddered against the woman's icy hands. Cerberus helped Misaki up with its tail.

"Thanks both of you." Misaki thanked. "Get us outside." She turned around looking at the snapped cable and the fallen elevator wondering how they had survived. She turned back around.


	7. another day another fight

In the dead of the night: Chapter 7

"Misaki!" "Ren!"

Yoh, Horohoro, Manta, and Chocolove rushed over to the two carried by the eidolons.

"Are you alright?" Yoh asked. He stared at the Cerberus. "I thought Eve was here since some dog walked in, mutated and ran off. I didn't know it was yours." He said to Misaki helping her down. Shiva set Ren as he seemed to have stood fine.

"Melissa was here." Misaki said. "The elevator cable was cut, not ripped off." Silence. Cerberus interrupted the silence growling against the doorway. Shiva stood in front of them all holding her arms together in an X as if guarding. Through the ceiling, was Eve.

"Excellent. I see your selection in eidolons have been proven magnificent." Eve glanced at Shiva then at Cerberus whom she seemed more pleased with.

"Melissa," Misaki stepped forward. Shiva guarded her but Misaki raised her hand signaling it was alright. "Who's your client? Is he or she a summoner?"

"I'm not suppose to tell you, Misa-dono." Eve smiled wickedly. "But yes, he is a summoner. A very powerful summoner that is. The police have been quite involved in these cases haven't they?" Misaki nodded. "Tsk tsk. He won't be too happy about this. Knowing there's another summoner here with her little friends." She observed every single one of them even their spirits.

"The people here didn't go on fire." Misaki interrupted her thoughts. Eve looked at her. Only smiling.

"I know. There…wasn't enough people for it to be put into effect." She explained. "One of the locations to hit. But instead, it wouldn't be bad to try to kill you. But with all of you here together. I'd be too outnumbered because of your spirits' protection. I can't live in this host's body much longer. Passing down the job may work much better." Eve turned around forming backing into Melissa. The glass doors cracked and flew out into the streets. "I'll see you around, Misaki." She took a few steps out and flew off into the air.

"…"

"It's all planned." Anna concluded. "The places that they strike are all planned ahead of time. The Carnegie Hall, Central Park Stadium, and this dance club."

"But there's nothing in common." Tamao said. "Besides that there are many people."

"There isn't." Misaki said. "I don't believe that any of these places have anything to do with Eve and the summoner's plan. It's just what looks like a supposed plan to throw us off track, to distract us into thinking there's a reason. Eve is powerful," Misaki explained turning to look at all of them. "There could be a possibility that she can burn the city if she wanted to. She can summon sorceresses from different kinds of dimensions, basically different versions of the original Lilith's descendants."

"!" Everyone stared at her.

"What?" Misaki asked stepping back. "You don't think I'm your enemy don't you?" she stammered confusingly. Yoh stepped forward.

"Lilith is the second Angel." Yoh explained. "A man named Kakyou Kuzuki can summon Lilith. Where did you get that name from?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Misaki pushed him back daring to keep eye contact. Everyone stared with accusing eyes. It made her shudder. "Lilith is Adam's demon wife. Got that?! If you don't believe me, it says so in the Torah scriptures! Lilith is the first creation. Eve is the second. They're basically two sides of the same person which comes out as Eve. The descendants come from Lilith's side, the bad side of Eve." Cerberus and Shiva stood by her side guarding her treating them as if they were enemies.

"I don't remember seeing that in the Bible. Even when I studied religion." Manta explained.

"You study religion?" Ryu asked.

"Our question is, Lilith was never mentioned in any single page, chapter, or sentence of the Christian Bible." Manta said staring at his feet.

"I don't know what you guys are thinking. It was Lilith's fault that the human race got banished. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense since Eve was the holy side. This may have something to do with that Ayume girl. Otherwise, all of you wouldn't be staring at me like this!" Shiva blasted ice around them, thick enough to hold them off for Misaki who was on Cerberus by now to take off.

The entire group took this by surprise trying to shield themselves from the blast. Yoh swept his Over Soul across the ice causing it to shatter and disappear.

"Misaki?" Pilica called out.

"Misaki?" Tamao did the same.

"She ran off." Yoh said. "Maybe we shouldn't have been like that. It may have just been by coincidence."

"Come to think of it," Manta sighed. "There may had been a Lilith in the Bible. I mean, all of the angels' names were found in scriptures of the Bible and Torah."

"Rejected by them. What was I, kidding?" Cerberus disappeared into the dog shape and ran off. Shiva remained at her side. Misaki leaned against the concrete, sat down and buried her face in her arms, sighing.

"They still think that you may be her," Shiva explained. "I know, it's rough on you. But…I think they all still care. I mean, look at Ren. He protected you."

"Only because I look like her."

"Misaki." Shiva sighed. "Only negative comments. Can't you ever think positive for a change?" Shiva disappeared.

"And to here that from an eidolon…" she sighed getting up wandering off even further. "I'm about a mile away right now." She thought about Cerberus's speed. "Maybe hitting on a few gangsters would make me feel a little better." She shivered against the cold temperature. "How many degrees is it, Mogi?"

"Ten degrees kupo!!! You need to wear a freaking jacket, kupo!" Mogi yelled in her ear.

"Don't worry! I'm just fine." Misaki lied still shivering as the snow kept falling. "I'm so stupid. I shouldn't have wandered off this far. That summoner or Melissa could attack me at any time right now." She chuckled coughing against the cold air.

"You need a jacket."

"No, I don't."

"You do."

"Don't."

"Do."

"Don't."

"…You always me make mad, kupo!" Mogi flew around her a few times. "Where are we going? Aren't we going back to the hotel? Where's everyone else? And WHY aren't you wearing a jacket?!"

"Long story, Mogi." Misaki replied.

"Don't hide from me, kupo!" Mogi sat on top of her head. A few gangsters holding guns and knives appeared down by the alley way/sidewalk. Misaki summoned Carbuncle as they continued to walk by as if they weren't there at all.

"Check it out, guys. A lil' girl." One stepped forward, probably somewhere around Ryu's age. "Watcha doing out here little girl? And what are those freaking things?!" It took all of Mogi's strength to keep his mouth shut. "Didn't you know that Manhattan was suppose to be evacuated?" Misaki kept her mouth shut. "And what's with you? You want to freeze to death or something?"

"Can you please move aside." Misaki asked.

"Ha! Someone like you?" The guy held up the knife against her throat. "You want to mess with people like us?" He reached out his hand but Carbuncle slapped it away. "Feisty little mutated dogs!" he kicked Carbuncle aside. Mogi opened its mouth to cat hiss.

The guys laughed at it.

"Mogi. Looks like they aren't too careful. Maybe a bit louder?"

"Hahaha, heh?"

"Gwar." Mogi said lamely. "Is that what you expected me to say? And yeah, I talk. GWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!" The roar sent the gangsters fifty feet down the block. Misaki grinned.

"Don't underestimate my eidolons!" Carbuncle got up pretending to have been hurt. The cute little critter began to mutate and form into a giant monster three times the size of Misaki.

"Can you please get out of our way?" Misaki asked. One of them pointed a gun at her and shot several rounds. She sighed not impressed as each bounced off Carbuncle's ultra-powerful shield. "Will you please let me get through now?"

The gangsters petrified nodded clearing the path for her. The same person shot several rounds of bullets but each just bounced off quite simply. Misaki didn't turn around and just kept walking down as the mutated creature formed back into the cute little critter bouncing along catching up with Misaki.

A few minutes later, her lips began to turn blue.

"You're catching pneumonia, kupo! But it's too late in the night to go and find a jacket for you. You should have stole one from them."

"Then they would have froze to death." Misaki replied.

"Since when did you care about other people?" Carbuncle asked telepathically.

"I don't, Carbuncle. That's just to make him" she pointed. "shut up."

"Don't think I heard that?!?!" Mogi bopped her head several times quite weakly.

"Your immature form is quite lame." Misaki remarked.

"Oh shut up, kupo!" Mogi continuously bopped her head as Misaki smiled to herself constantly shivering in the cold weather. "Summon Pheonix now, kupo! Other wise you ARE going to freeze to death."

"If I do, I'm going to give away my position."

"…Running away. Doesn't sound like a good idea. You're just running away from them." Carbuncle mentioned mentally.

"Not like I got anyone left." Misaki scolded. "I mean, friends. Seemed like they could have been the ones to change me." She smiled. "But no. I screwed up, got sent to Japan and have to live with Asakura and Kyouyama and Tamamura. I wanna go back home to Germany. Japan really sucks for me. U.S. is okay but I don't have any relatives here except for my…real…dad and stepmother." Misaki explained. "I'll probably summon Pheonix to go back to Germany since my flight tickets are back at the hotel."

There was no reply from Carbuncle.

"It's bad. Melissa can strike at any time against me." She continuously shivered. Mogi and Carbuncle looked at her with worried eyes. She coughed several times. Mogi and Carbuncle began to feel cold also. "Is the temperature dropping?"

"Of course, kupo! Can't you see that I'm shaking all over---" Misaki giggled but coughed again.

"Then it's best you guys just stay dormant for a while."

"Kupo!" The two eidolons disappeared. Mogi sighed. 'And I was going to say that it may give away your position then they couldn't be able to stop you from flying away. You just don't want to leave, don't you? You'll die if you don't stop all of your stupidity.'

"She hasn't come back yet. I'm getting worried." Horohoro looked out the window and at the city.

"Ha! Not like you to be so concerned especially for HER!" Vivi pointed.

"I wasn't expecting her to take off like that! I thought you were her eidolon." Horohoro narrowed his eyes.

"I am. I have confidence Misa-chan will come back. That's if she doesn't catch pneumonia or something." Vivi sighed.

"When she ran out, she wasn't wearing a coat or anything. Just a tank top, skirt, and sandals. And it's too late in the night to buy anything in New York." Chocolove said resting against the couch. "Ay. Ren, Yoh, Tamao, and Pilica have gone out to search for her. I gave her Mic just incase if she runs into any trouble."

"Yeah." Horohoro nodded.

"Hi!" he waved at her wrapping his coat/cape around her. "Feeling warmer now?"

"I didn't know you guys were in town." Misaki blinked.

"Well…she insisted." The female X-Law waved at her.

"Nothing but an old, demanding bitch, aren't you?" Misaki narrowed her eyes at her. Lyserg gasped hoping Meene wouldn't slap Misaki.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear the 'old' part." She fumed.

"Well you see," Lyserg started. "she was the only who wanted to come here for Christmas. Everyone was against her because of trying to get pass the Shaman tournament and all. But she insisted on having a vacation here. Then Jeanne decided it was a good idea so of course everyone HAD to agree to come here."

"I see. I feel sorry you," Misaki sighed. "This is all too familiar."

"Did you say something…" Meene glared. Misaki smiled waving. "Where's everyone else?" she asked. "Aren't your friends suppose to be with you?"

"Nah. I just decided to take a walk by myself." Misaki lied.

"Really…" Meene nodded unconvinced. "Anyways. This part of the city is suppose to evacuated because of some mass killings here used by a spirit?" Meene held up the newspaper in bold letters saying 'POLICE STILL INVESTIGATING ON MASS KILLINGS'. "We thought you may know something since you were here the entire time."

"Actually," Misaki said. "The entire story is, an actor named Melissa Pearce got possessed by some sorceress, descendant of Hyne, Spira, Lilith, Eve, however you want to call the mother name. But you see, her spirits are also sorceresses from other dimensions and time periods. And the major thing is!"

"What?" Lyserg asked.

"The ability to mutate your cells so you become this fat pile of ugly goo!" Misaki grinned. Lyserg and Meene didn't seem to impressed by it. "I'm serious." Misaki smiled obviously not looking too serious. "Yoh and Tamao saw the fat pile of goo that people melted into and became one big substance and just disappeared. And all of us saw her make people go on fire. Everyone died except for us coz the spirits that we combine with can protect us from it."

"That's quite odd." Meene mentioned. "Have you talked to her yet?"

"Yeah. She has a client. A summoner just like me." Misaki said.

"Then maybe we, X-Laws need to get involved in this case too." Meene stated. "I mean, it sounds quite serious. And we can get a major score in more points for our Over Soul and our tournament participation."

"Really." Misaki nodded. "Where are the other X-Laws?"

"They're in their hotel already. We found this grand suite place that they made available for Shamans." Lyserg said. By judging the expression on her face, he smiled weakly. "Let me guess…they're there too aren't they?"

"AHH!!! The X-Laws are here!" Horohoro yelled pointing down the hallway.

"Keep your voice down!" Venstar whispered loudly.

"Why the hell did you choose this place?!" Horohoro cried anime style dragging himself against the wall.

"I thought you'd be happy to see us." Jeanne waved. Chocolove waved back at her. "Or not." She smiled at Chocolove but gave a confused look to Horohoro. "Where's everyone else?" Jeanne asked.

"They went out."

"It's 2 in the morning." Marco remarked. "You don't go out at 2 in the morning. It's freezing outside."

"I could say the same for you. Where's Lyserg?" Horohoro asked.

"They wanted to look around for a while. It's practically below freezing outside but they insisted." Cebin shrugged carrying some of the luggage walking ahead in the hallway.

"We'll see you tomorrow morning." Jeanne smiled bowing slightly walking off with them going upstairs. Before she did, she turned around. "Incase if you were wondering, Meene suggested we came here for the vacation since the Shaman King must be wearing down on all of us. Of course Marco didn't like that too much at first." She smiled.

"Hey!"

"Anyways, I decided it wasn't such a bad idea, especially to enjoy the New Year's and all the festivities going on here in America. It's been a while since I came back here." She mentioned before the elevator doors automatically closed.

"The X-Laws and Jeanne being here. And what are we going to tell Yoh about this?" Horohoro went back inside. Seeing Vivi, he practically fell again. "And how did you get that X-Laws sign if you don't even know who they are?"

"I don't know." Vivi shrugged. "I forgot how it came. It's cool though."

"Cool, cool…right." Horohoro sighed sitting on the couch. "Chocolove?"

"Yeah? Still here." He said. "Since the search may take all night depending if Yoh is actually searching, maybe we all could just stay up and relax in the sauna."

"That's a good idea," Horohoro grinned. Kororo nodded. Chocolove picked up the phone and began dialing a few numbers waiting for the phone to ring.

"Hello Ren?" Chocolove said.

"Who's this?"

"Chocolove."

"Don't recall anyone by that name. Is that you, George?" Chocolove slammed the phone down.

"Something wrong?" Vivi asked laughing his 'hat' off.

"Shut up. Where's the phone number." Chocolove asked.

"I didn't do anything to it, stupid!" Vivi pointed. "Try calling someone else. I mean, it's not like Ren is the only person you can confide in. AHAH! AHAHA!" he stopped laughing as soon as Chocolove and Horohoro with Mic and Kororo stared. He dusted off some dust from his pants and walked off as if nothing had happened.

"That was interesting." Horohoro blinked.

"Still feeling a little cold?" Lyserg asked. Misaki shook her head and coughed a little. "Meene, the hotel is quite far from here. Flying around with a spirit may be a bad idea."

"Can't we still walk around?" Misaki asked.

"Of course not! Not in your condition! You should go see a doctor or something. There's a hospital nearby. It may be kinda crowded but some people needed blood transfers especially to those extremely few people who had suffered so much since those incidences." Meene said.

"Hospital?!" Misaki thought. 'Pass down the job. Is she insane?' "Alright. Let's go." Misaki said calmly as if nothing happened. Lyserg and Meene blinked.

"You okay?" Meene asked. "It sounds as if you were shocked about going to a hospital or something." A quick flash of a woman lying in a hospital.

"!" Misaki blinked astonished and shook her head. "Nothing. Just didn't think it had to be that serious." She coughed several more times.

"We can just pick up some medication and head on home, that's all." Lyserg said. "It's only over---!"

"What?" Meene asked looking towards the hospital on the other side of the street. "!"

"What happened to it?" Lyserg looked around to make sure there weren't any cars and ran across the street with Meene and Misaki following.

"Melissa." Misaki explained. "The hospital thing. She can't survive much longer in that host's body. And when I mean about much longer, I'm talking about a few years. She's going to use a sperm bank in the hospital to make herself give birth to it."

"And…what does she give birth to?"

"I don't know. Melissa consists of 99 power of mitochondria parasites. I only have 33 of mitochondria parasites. She can create. But I can liberate. The problem is, no matter how many of that mitochondria stuff we have, even if one of the two of us makes contacts with the sperm, we give birth to this thing that probably even Jeanne may have a lot of trouble stopping and possibly not be able to defeat or destroy at all." Misaki explained.

"There's only three of us so we can't split into any teams. But if we get separated in any way, we…" Meene looked at Misaki.

"Find the sperm bank and destroy all of it. If any of you begin to feel hot in any way, combine with your spirits. I can't answer why but if you don't believe me and refuse to do that, you'll go on fire." Misaki explained. Lyserg walked towards the door and it didn't slide open.

"Power's out." Lyserg said and cringed at the sight of the blood, red… and orange? All over the walls. "Never thought I had to do this." He said holding out his hand as his spirit, Morphine formed a knife and slashed the glass into three clean pieces before shattering against the floor. Orange goo sprayed against the marble. "Never mind. It was…glued? Together?"

"I wish Chocolove were here. I mean, he was born here in New York and lived here for thirteen years. I'm pretty sure he must have known this hospital as well." Misaki sighed. "What am I kidding, Chocolove? Ha." She walked over to the telephone. It's red light was blinking.

"The telephone seems to be alright." Meene said.

"Nada." A soft voice echoed throughout the room. The phone immediately blew up sending Meene and Misaki back a few feet. A giggle and silence. Lyserg looked around with Morphine defending him. Meene and Misaki got up looking around.

"Looks like we can't call the others." Meene thought. Ignoring the fact a telephone blew up right in front of them, she went behind the front desk looking for papers for any directories of the hospital. "Here's one. The sperm bank is on the top floor. That's quite helpful." She stood up holding the directory in her hand. "And over there is the elevator."

The three walked towards the elevator. Before Lyserg could push the button for it to open, the elevator's doors opened automatically.

"Freaky." Lyserg shuddered daring to step in first. Misaki and Meene stepped in after he did. "36th floor, right?" he pushed the button.

"Do you have a pistol?" Misaki asked.

"Of course I do! Lots of them!" Meene showed her four pistols. "The rest are back with Marco and the others. Are you good at using them?"

"They're my specialty." Misaki picked the black one which obviously looked deadly. "Alright. Incase if this door opens at any floor and we're attacked by anyone, then we fire." The two nodded. Lyserg held his hand towards the door, Meene held her pistol in defense, and Misaki held her pistol up as the elevator moved slowly, steadily, quietly, passing the 9th floor…now 10th floor and kept moving up.

"We were at this dance club today." Misaki said showing her bare arms to them. "Melissa cut the cables and I got my arms cut."

"Yes. If only we can find a doctor, we can patch a few things up." Meene said. "I'm not too much of a doctor so I didn't know what to do. But in this kind of condition, I'd be glad if anyone here was actually alive." Misaki nodded holding Lyserg's coat/cape tightly around herself. She shivered from the cold air that was around them.

"You alright?" Lyserg asked concerned. Misaki nodded.

"I guess it just takes a while for the entire thing to warm up for me."

"But it should've been warm when I put in on you." Lyserg mentioned. The elevator stopped. At the 18th floor. "Weapons up." His face shifted to a serious look. Misaki trembled holding up her gun with both hands pointing against the door. Meene held it up with one hand holding another pack of bullets in her available hand.

The doors slid open automatically. No one there. Meene stepped out slowly and then pointed her gun around the room quickly, her eyes scanning and rescanning to see if she could have missed someone or something. The door at the end was slightly left opened.

"All clear." Meene mentioned. Lyserg and Misaki walked out of the elevator. The doors slid half way shut just as the cables snapped and the elevator flew down crashing against the floor. "The elevator!" she slammed her fist against the door. "We're going to have to use the stairs." She smiled weakly.

"Anyone in here?" Misaki called out. No answer. She shivered.

"Are you able to sense Eve yet?" Meene asked.

"A little bit." She shuddered against speaking.

"The cold." Lyserg said wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "It must have weakened your senses. Which way?"

"We keep going. Up." Misaki said, her breaths becoming to be puffs of mist. They walked towards the door that was left hanging partly open. The three walked towards the door. Meene kicked it open and pointed her gun around the room. No one there. "…Feels…kinda hot." Misaki said. Lyserg and Meene blinked looking at her. She took off the coat/cape. "Feels kinda hot." She placed a hand on her chest and breathed several times unevenly. Meene and Lyserg blinked staring at her.

"Anything?"

"Melissa is here…That thing over there," her head drooped as Lyserg caught her. Her arm pointed towards where Meene was standing. Meene turned around pointing her gun towards the shadows and shot several times at it. Several cries of inhuman screams shouted in rage before making a thump against the ground. "Feels cold."

"First you said you felt hot, now you're cold." Meene said concerned. "We can use Lyserg's Morphine to take us up to the 36th floor quickly and easy even though it may cause lots of building damages."

"Alright." Lyserg said holding out his hand. The necklace formed a solid platform below them and a pyramid above them. The pyramid moved along with the platform bursting through every single floor quickly. "I'm counting. 24th floor."

"30th floor." Meene looked up with a sweat rolling down her neck. "34th floor, 35th. HOT!" she ignited on fire and immediately called a combine which immediately ceased all of the heat she had felt. Lyserg stared in astonish-ment as it finally hit towards the thirty-sixth floor.

"Misaki." He lightly slapped her face with his hand. Misaki blinked and muttered several times before seemingly waking up. "We're here. Do you sense anything?"

"…No." she thought struggling to stand up looking around. Meene checked a few tanks which all of them had the glass shattered with the tanks all dried up.

"There's nothing here." Meene explained.

"The sperm is all gone." Misaki spoke in a whisper. Lyserg's eyes widened in surprise. 'She sounds like Ayume-san.' "Melissa took all the sperm and trying to create the Ultimate Being from herself. But what does the summoner have to do with this too?" She gasped quietly once before the world went black.


	8. frightening powers

In the dead of the night: Chapter 8

Black figure. Black enviornment. She woke up. Nothing. The black figure. Black space. Empty space. And then a huge black eye glowing brightly from the middle of the darkness. It shot at her. She felt the ground break apart and herself falling away. And then a flashing image of a white wing a green thunder. A hand blocking out the eye.

Her eyes immediately forced open. She blinked several times realizing it was just a dream.

"R-R-Ren?" she sat up against the bed allowing the sweat roll down her neck and face. Misaki looked over. Manta. "Midget?!" she pointed. Manta nodded. She sighed in relief. Behind Manta was Mogi.

"I had to tell them EVERYTHING, kupo! About you running off and all and how I had to watch over you."

"Did you say what I--?!"

"You think I would, kupo?" Mogi ranted sitting next to Manta. The tiny Moogle was smaller than the midget was.

"Sorry. How long have I been knocked out?" Misaki asked.

"A day." Manta said. "You scared us shitless. Fortunately of Lyserg and Meene wouldn't have found you and him giving you that coat of his, you'd be dead of pneumonia!!" he screamed.

"Calm down, Manta." Misaki smiled. Manta did.

"You…" he sighed sitting down again. "remind me of Yoh when he was injured like that also. Everyone else went out to get something to eat. Don't take it as an offense. They may be your friends," he said. 'They way he said that, as if it was a fact.' "but of course, you can't help but complain about blowing up the food selections." He glared at Mogi. Blinked.

"What?" Mogi shrugged trying to look innocent. Misaki giggled.

"Thanks Manta for staying behind." She mentioned examining herself. "I got some bandages on my arms."

"Yeah. They got scratched up by the elevator, remember? And then you ran off." Manta reminded. "Lyserg and Meene told us everything yesterday and now Jeanne, Marco, and the other X-Laws know about this too. They say they'll do what they can to participate. It isn't really much of their business but the summoner does increase their tentions, I can tell." Manta nodded.

"Right." Misaki laid back down. "I should call up Jada and Kaya to tell them that it won't interfere with my condition for the Shaman fight."

"I don't know. I don't think they need to know." Manta shrugged. "Vivi went out with them also incase if you were wondering. I thought Ren wouldn't be that kind of person but a person's got to eat something. Especially when the food GETS BLOWN UP." Manta eyed directly at Mogi. Mogi blinked and looked at Manta and at Misaki.

"What?"

Misaki grinned getting out of bed seemingly fine.

"I'm alright now, I think." She said stretching and yawning. Manta got off the chair along with Mogi who flew off.

"That's great. Lyserg and Jeanne are the only ones still staying here. Meene," Manta sighed. "Dragged everyone else to go shopping with her. Some day," he smiled genuinely with some humor behind his eyes. "I think she's going to make the X-Laws go broke. I mean, they can afford to have their own ship built, logos and all. But the thing that will be costly is her shopping mania. I mean, she had to bring all of them with her."

"Like I said, she's just an old, demanding bitch." Misaki sat back on the bed smiling. "She can use the X-Laws to her advantage," she laughed to herself. Manta just smiled. An eerie noise ran through her ear. Misaki gritted her teeth and moaned painfully falling towards the floor.

"Misaki! You alright?!" Manta and Mogi rushed over. Her eyes were forced shut.

/…Help…/

'Help?'

/…Death to Burmecia. Cleyra. Lindbulum. Alexandria…/

'The four…!'

/…Burmecia. Help…/

'Hai.'

Her eyes finally relaxed allowing her to open them. She relaxed leaning against the bed.

"Are you alright?" Manta and Mogi asked.

"Got a signal. From one of those four cities behind times." Misaki said.

"Yeah?" Manta asked.

"They…need help?" Misaki said. "The person said Death to Burmecia, Cleyra, Lindbulum. And Alexandria."

"Why?" Manta asked.

"…I don't know. Someone's trying to destroy them I bet." Misaki thought. "Maybe they're just anti-antique stuff with these cities that still are hung back in time sorta." She thought. 'But…why attack them?' "When they come back," she told Manta. "Tell them this. We need to get there as soon as possible."

"…Are you sure you aren't just going crazy by it?" Manta asked.

"No. Special people can receive this kind of help message. Since they don't use airplanes or airports, just old airships, I'll use my eidolons. Pheonix, Quezacotl, and Madeen." Misaki explained. "They're much faster than airplanes though so it may difficult how we can actually keep ourselves still on the eidolon.

"Maybe Jeanne and Lyserg should know about this. They can use their Over Souls and spirits." Manta suggested.

"I don't want to get them involved. They're already involved in this Eve case which we don't want anything to happen, right?" Misaki asked. Manta shrugged.

"I don't know. I just thought it may be a better idea if we're going up against three forces at the same time. Like we could split into two teams to handle the situation there and here." Manta said.

"Five. We have the three other cities that are involved too." Misaki said.

"So we got an instant help message from the city of…Burmecia?" Yoh looked at Misaki. She nodded confidently. "And Burmecia is on the other side of the world in Russia. Manta?"

"Yeah."

"Can you calculate a few things?"

"Sure."

"At what speed do the eidolons move at?" Yoh asked Misaki.

"Depends. Quezacotl can obviously go the fastest. Let's say 17965 miles per hour."

"That's a little too fast." Manta sighed. "I don't think we could live by then."

"In that case, we can use Carbuncle's reflect shield." Misaki suggested. "My Carbuncle can use the Reflect to protect us against the wind and the speed. So here's the speed," Misaki touched the three bracelets that of course contained Quezacotl, Pheonix, and Madeen. "Quezacotl can go to the maximum with 60,000 mph with two people on his back. With three, we can do 30,000 mph. With four, it'll decrease it to 10,000 mph."

"That's still quite fast enough." Anna noted.

"Pheonix can go with the maximum of 1453 mph with three people at the most. Two people with 1766. Madeen can go 1800 with three people and 1968 with two people."

"Why is Pheonix the slowest?" Pilica asked. "I mean, it is a bird."

"Its fire. If it goes to fast, it can cause a firestorm. Some problems there, right?" Misaki asked.

"But since getting across the ocean to get to Russia is about 10,000 miles, we can use Quezacotl to get there within one hour with four of us. Or we can take the first 3000 miles altogether to stop at San Francisco which should take about two hours. Then at Hawaii which would take a total of two and a half hours, we lastly can make it to Russia. It should be about four hours to reach there. Altogether we have almost seven hours of traveling. It's eight o'clock now." Manta said.

"Alright. We'll set this up." Faust said. "If we're arriving there in one day, we can stop in San Francisco for a break. It would be ten by then. At ten-thirty, we can take off and head towards Hawaii. It would be twelve o' clock. No matter how much Burmecia suffers, we need to be able to maintain our stability to fight meaning having to relieve from the fast speed.

"Lastly, we can take off at one o' clock and stop in Russia. By the time that's possible, it would be about five o'clock. Since the X-Laws's spirits aren't as fast, it may take them a day or two."

"Lastly." Yoh stood up. "This is Burmecia. A mayday message. This probably means that if someone can contact a summoner, they're bound to be attacked by a powerful Shaman of some sort. If any of you don't want to participate in this, you can stay." He looked at Misaki. "We can get our luggage and leave now."

"We'll split up in teams of three. We need to take different courses to make sure that we don't run into anything together." Yoh said. "Let me decide."

"You decide??" Horohoro stepped forward. "You're going to place us in the wrong places!!"

"Oh well." Yoh shrugged. Horohoro sighed. "You, Tamao, Ryu, and Misaki. You'll make up Team 3. Ren, Anna, Faust, Manta will make up Team 2. Me, Chocolove, Pilica, and Vivi will make up Team 1. Misaki. Eidolons?" Misaki nodded. She walked towards the edge of the harbor platform and crossed her arms in an X-shape before placing her right hand on top of her left hand.

Quezacotl burst in a lightning bolt from the sky, Pheonix emerged from the ground, and Madeen came in the middle of the air. Carbuncle came out of the ground in front of Manta who screamed and hid behind Vivi.

"Everyone." Misaki smiled. "Me and Team 2 are going to take Quezacotl. Yoh, your team will take Pheonix, and Team 3, you take Madeen."

"So we all meet at San Francisco." Ryu clarified. "Within two hours."

"Right. If you arrive early, wait. If you arrive early and get bored," Yoh glared at Misaki. She smiled innocently. "You HAVE to wait. I'm sure Horohoro that you can watch over her."

"Hey!"

"See ya all!"

"Hai!"

The light green bird soared across the plains with ease. The beauty of the landscape was breathtaking. Although they went to fast, it wasn't hard to be able to see all the fantastic views of natural America.

"What do you think?" Misaki yelled. Horohoro nodded. Tamao laid down resting.

"I'm surprised you can still control your eidolons from so many miles away. Why can't you do that for Russia?" Ryu asked.

"Because then I'd be summoning it there. I have to summon it right around where I am because it wouldn't make sense if I would try summoning it from another planet like Mars to see if it had life, right?" Misaki yelled back.

"It doesn't feel like we're going that fast." Horohoro mentioned.

"Carbuncle's Shield makes it that way. It's going to feel like as if you stuck your head out the car window but it's because of Carbuncle's Shield, we can't feel any pressure and we won't fall off. Sure we can move a little but it keeps us from falling off. Wanna see?"

"No!" Horohoro and Ryu begged.

"Quezacotl! See that valley over there?" Misaki yelled happily. "Dive…now!"

"GAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!" Horohoro and Ryu as Quezacotl dived down towards the valley and quickly regained still flying just as fast as ever. Ryu was lying down all teary-eyed.

"At least I didn't fly off." He wailed. "How far is it until we can get to San Francisco?"

"Why? Do you want to get there now so you can relax a bit and wait?"

"Sure. Why not?" Tamao suggested.

"Okay! Quezacotl! Let's go 10K!!!" The bird charged in full breakneck speed across the American land from a distance in the sky that several farmers could've mistaken it as a legendary pheonix bird (a mythical bird in other words).

"So we meet at the entrance of Chinatown, right?" Horohoro said.

"Yeah. That's what dear Yoh said." Tamao recalled. "It's only 9. We can all go do some shopping for an hour and meet at the entrance where they would be pretty soon."

"I think I'm feeling kind of sick." Horohoro complained.

"Stop your whining. It's your fault you wanted to go 10,000 miles per hour." Misaki scolded. "We can buy a snack to digest or a nice hot chocolate!" she suggested happily bursting into a Starbucks shop, one of the American coffee shops. "What do you all want?" she ordered Ryu, Horohoro, and Tamao.

"Heh? Umm…maybe a regular hot chocolate." Horohoro thought taking out some of the American dollar bills.

"Gimme that!" Misaki snatched from him.

"Hey! Give that back!" Misaki threw it back to him and took out her purse made out of denim. "What do you want, Ryu? Tamao?"

"You're going to pay, Misaki-sama?" Tamao asked. "You're too polite."

"Yeah, I know." Misaki said sarcastically. Tamao frowned. "So what do you want?"

"Maybe a small hot chocolate do."

"I like a large cappuchino." Ryu said. "Thanks Misaki-chan."

"Yes, thank you, Misaki-sama."

"Don't call me that." Misaki sighed. "Just Misaki or Misaki-chan is nice! I want to be everyone's friend."

"There's something about that line I may never believe." Horohoro muttered. Slap. Ryu and Tamao winced.

"Be happy I'm getting you something!" she scolded quietly trying to avoid drawing public attention. She turned and waved to the cash register.

"I want a large cappuchino, small and two regular hot cocoas." Misaki demanded.

"…12.75, ma'am." The cash register replied.

"Stupid American coffee shops. Always cost so much." She muttered very quietly handing her the money.

"Thank you! Have a nice day!"

"And if I don't give you the money…heh." She mumbled sarcastically pushing her way almost knocking Horohoro over and sitting on an available couch.

"Geez. She's always in such a crabby mood. Thinks the whole world is hers." Horohoro grumbled.

"I don't think she's like that," Tamao argued. "I mean," she looked at Misaki who was looking out the window. "She wouldn't have been such a bad person if she didn't offer to get us all something."

"You mean make herself get us something." Horohoro crossed his arms. "She thinks we all are like only using her because she looks like Ayume so much. But we should just let go of the Ayume thing. I mean, Ayume is kinda cute, and so is Misaki, I mean, why not just pretend it didn't happened."

"Because it did." Ryu said.

"Three cocoas and a cappuchino!"

"That's ours." Ryu outburst ignoring the subject. The three got their cocoas and a cappuchino. Tamao carried Misaki's over placing one in front of her as they all sat in the available seats around the small round and short table.

"You alright there?" Ryu asked taking a sip of his cappuchino.

"Of course, Ryu. Except that Yoh placed me with this asshole, you think I'm alright?"

"You bitch!" Horohoro grabbed the front of the shirt.

"Don't abuse me!" she slapped at him. By now, everyone was looking at him. "What do you know?" she smiled in a calm fashion. "We're just teens. You think it's weird that people can get in a fight?" Very soon everything went back to normal noise level.

"Bitchslapper." Horohoro sat on the couch obviously very pissed off. "If I were Ren, I would have killed you while I had the chance."

"But you wouldn't because I look like Ayume." Misaki snapped back.

"You think we're still hung over it?"

"Yeah. Because otherwise, you'd be considered heartless." Misaki muttered angrily.

"Misaki-sa—I mean Misaki-chan." Tamao interrupted. "I hope you don't get the wrong image. Ayume-sama was a very important person to all of us. Seeing you sometimes is almost like seeing her." Seeing that her expression didn't change, Tamao sighed. "But we don't want you to think you are filling the absence that appeared when Ayume-sama was deceased."

"And why shouldn't I think that?" Misaki asked.

"Because…because you can't fill a gap that's already been lost." Tamao stated. "Sure you can try to forget about it, but really…do you only need time to cover up the gap, try to forget about it?" Misaki stayed silent.

"Of course, people may think that way." Ryu said placing his cappuchino on the table. "People may think that you can replace people with the gap lost but if you think harder about it…you can't. Because no one can replace what has been lost." They stayed silent for a moment and then giggled.

"Anta baka?" Misaki giggled. Ryu, Tamao, and Horohoro blinked. "Why are you all so serious? I was just having a fight with Horohoro." She looked up with a look on her face that of course made them feel like the stupid ones. "Because kusotarre here ---"

"HEY!"

"Needs to learn about respecting women." Misaki placed her hot cocoa on the table too. "It's the basic, Horohoro. What kind of parents raise their kids not knowing chivalry?"

"I can't help it if the girl is insane!" Horohoro pointed accusingly.

"Please Horohoro, you are getting kind of loud," Tamao smiled weakly. Horohoro leaned back drinking more of his hot chocolate.

"Let's see here. It's only been twenty minutes. We still got forty minutes plus the thirty minute break stop. Man, I kind of feel guilty about relaxing while the people in Burmecia are suffering." Ryu sighed. Misaki's face went serious again. Something that happened a lot only quite lately.

"Burmecia not only is an isolated country and may be still hung back in time. They have a powerful Shaman army but they don't believe in participating within Shaman tournaments. Their Shaman army is powerful if they want to defend against the outside world, right? Of course, even though they may not match up to our skill which has been developed by fighting with others and gaining more experience, but it's an army, remember." She reminded.

"Then that means, it would take a powerful Shaman or person much more powerful than that army and maybe even us to really put that country into sending such an urgent message." Tamao said.

"Exactly." Misaki replied. "When Yoh gets here, or when we arrive in Hawaii, we have to plan what we're going to do when we get there since we obviously can make it there much faster than any of them even if it may affect them."

"But the thing is, we already may be too late." Tamao sighed sipping some more of her hot cocoa. "You are kind of the co-leader next to Ren-sama. What do you suggest?"

"I don't know. I'm only 13." Misaki drank some more hot chocolate. "And I led pretty much a normal life until I met you all. Since we may be the first, it's probably important to have the two strongest people on the team. Think about it for a moment. We can't have all of our MVP's line up to fight. We may not even know if the attacking force on Burmecia has an army themselves.

"Of course Yoh has to see in this if he wants more points for the Shaman tournament. Ren I know would definetely not skip this chance. But I have to go since I'm the summoner. Faust is pretty powerful so he can stay behind. So are you and Ryu."

"What about me?!"

"Oh yeah, forgot about you." Misaki lamely sighed. "And we may already be too late. Just because I got an urgent message, doesn't mean that it came after Burmecia may have fallen."

"So you came an hour early." Ren grumbled. Horohoro nodded. "Doing this stuff all because of some stupid hunch." He glared at Misaki who wasn't looking at him.

"Do you think we may be strong enough to fight it?" Horohoro asked.

"We better be. I mean, Burmecia is one of the four isolated countries. Of course if they get attacked by an outsider, they probably don't know what to do." Chocolove shrugged.

"Doesn't matter. I just want to kill the jackass and get my credits for the Shaman tournament." Ren mumbled. Yoh walked over waving to them. They just blinked in return.

"Alright…so." He scratched the back of his head. Everyone gathered and sat on the benches by the park discussing what should be done next. "We got one powerful guy or guySS." He hissed out the last letter of the word. "Me and three people will go on way ahead to Burmecia. Misaki, you're definetely coming along because of the eidolon. Who else thinks they're capable enough?"

Ren stepped forward.

"Great." Yoh smiled weakly. "One last person?" Silence.

"I have to stay back." Faust said.

"I know." Yoh said thoughtfully. "Anna?"

"Why not?" she stepped forward with the bored expression.

"Wait." Tamao rebounded back covering her mouth. Everyone looked at her. "Miss Anna? I---is it okay if…I can go instead?" Everyone blinked in surprise. Anna looked at Yoh, then at Misaki, lastly Ren. Her gaze shifted back to Tamao.

"Fine." Anna said seemingly not caring at all. Misaki frowned obviously a bit pissed off. Tamao sighed in relief.

"We can head off right now." Misaki mentioned happily to Yoh. Yoh smiled but it disappeared as Anna interrupted.

"What hurry is there if you probably aren't going to make it in time? A lot can happen within an hour." Anna frowned. Misaki smirked.

"Time counts for everything. It doesn't matter if we may not make it. If that's where we're going to," she turned her back as Quezacotl shot down from the clouds, some people in the park were screaming of some giant thunder monster. "We might as well hurry."

"There's nothing to hurry for. It's over." Anna remarked. Many stayed silent to the two girls. Most seemed to be leaning towards Anna's side since most stared at Misaki seeing what she said. After a brief silence, she came with the idea in a whisper.

"So what?" Misaki said in a sarcastic voice. "Their lives are just as mine. And I sure hell wouldn't wanna die if I'm threatened into it. And anyways," her voice rose. "I don't care about no freaking fiancee to make ME happy nor save me because the only person I can depend on and support is myself. The only one who can save me is myself." Her voice died to a whisper again as Quezacotl finally arrived at the ground silently flapping its wings to and fro. "That's why I'm not turning my back on anyone who still may be begging for their lives, as if I was in their shoes." She hopped onto Quezacotl who began to swing towards the ground making itself horizontal to it.

The light green bird seemed to also be like a puppet hanging on strings. The way it hung in the air swaying back and forth slowly made it look like a giant doll controlled by its puppet master's strings. Yoh with a serious look on his face hopped onto the floating bird. Ren hopped up next followed by Tamao who was helped up by Yoh. Carbuncle popped up from the ground right in front of Manta as he screamed and hid behind Vivi.

"We'll go on ahead." Yoh said. "You guys find the groups you need to split up in. Whatever can work best for you." Quezacotl's body started to lift slightly higher above the ground. "Don't wait for us in Hawaii. We'll be ahead by then."

"Summon Pheonix and Madeen!" The two appeared in their welcoming sequence. Carbuncle shot its ruby light towards the three.

"See ya all!" Misaki waved to them as Horohoro and Ryu waved weakly, Pilica waved cheerfully along with Vivi and Manta. Yoh waved to them, Ren didn't do anything and Tamao waved politely to all of them as Quezacotl held back for a minute. Carbuncle jumped the air and disappeared into a golden shroud of what looked like DNA before fading off.

Quezacotl then without warning blasted forward towards the sea.

"Do you believe Yoh-kun will make it? Do you worry for him?" Manta asked.

"Of course I do." Anna said confidently. "I believe he can do anything. His strength should be high enough to defeat them. It is well over 10000."

"What teams do we want to get in?" Horohoro asked everyone. "I'll decide. Chocolove, me, Manta, and Faust. Anna, Pilica, Ryu, and Vivi will go on Madeen."

"Ahem." Vivi tugged lightly on his pants. "I decide the teams here." Vivi said. "Me, Pilica, Chocolove, and Ryu will go on Madeen. You, Anna, Faust, and Manta will go on Pheonix."

"Ah great." Horohoro looked at Anna and then sighed. Anna didn't say anything.


	9. even greater power

In the dead of the night: Chapter 9

"Amazing speed!" Yoh pointed towards SFO which no longer couldn't be seen. "That just disappeared in like three seconds."

"It's suppose to go this fast." Misaki yelled over the blowing wind. "If we want to get to Burmecia as fast as possible, we have to go at this rate." She explained. "How you doing Ren?" she looked at him. "Long time no talk!"

"Really." He muttered.

"Hey!! I hate that grumpy shitload of an attitude you got!" Misaki yelled at him. He basically ignored her. "You (!$!!" Yoh and Tamao blinked. "What?"

"So." Yoh laid back on Quezacotl's back. "How long would it be?"

"Hey Quezacotl!" Misaki yelled. A cry of a powerful bird yelled back. "How long would it be until we get there?"

/…Half an hour…/

"Dear lord." Misaki laid back. "With this bastard here!!!" she waved her index finger pointing in Ren's direction. "I bet you all came because of the crap load of points it could earn ya in the Shaman tournament."

"Yeah." Yoh said. "But those lives…what you said about them, I guess I'd feel the same too. I'm no different."

"After this," she warned them all. You're going to all feel a little woozy. It's normal since we're going at the pace of 20,000 miles per hour. Carbuncle's Reflect shield only makes it seem like we're going at 60. And we won't fall off too."

"That's pretty cool." Yoh looked around.

"There is not really much to look at all." Tamao said looking around the place. "Just blue."

"Exactly. I mean, I thought the color blue was pretty cool but seeing all of this just makes me feel sick. When we get there," Misaki said suddenly changing the topic. "it's going to be dark as I said. Darker than usual, not pitch black. Burmecia mean the 'The Land of Dark Rain'. It's not a bad country at all. It's just its location."

"Don't they ever get flooded by all the rain?" Tamao asked.

"No of course not. They're like, right at the top of the valley. Like the entrance to the valley is a bit higher than it is itself so flooding is usually very very rare. It only happened once before." Misaki said.

The skies began to grow darker. The giant bird flew quickly across the land, towards the city of Burmecia.

"See anything?" Misaki asked as Quezacotl slowed down, the view of the city became to appear in sight, the entrance to the Metropartian Bowl Valley that leads to the holy city of Cleyra.

"Nothing. No fighting." Ponchi and Conchi floated back down. "We may had been too late already." They admitted. "We tried getting a future or past feedback. Looks like the 'army' that attacked Burmecia was only by one person and one dragon." Silence. They were moving closer towards the city which could be clearly at this point. A small puff of orange came from the castle.

"There!" Tamao stood up in shock pointing. Yoh and Misaki immediately looked up, Ren turned around seeing the puff of smoke. "There's still some fighting." Rain began to drizzle from the sky. The pink-haired girl wiped some of the rain off of her face.

"Alright." Misaki got up holding her staff. "Quezacotl, to the city entrance, now."

The thunder bird vanished a golden string of 'DNA' before the sparkles faded. Ren dared step first into the city which seemed to have been pretty much destroyed already.

"Get your weapons prepared." He stated holding his glaive. Yoh had his Spirit of the Sword along with his sword at the side. Misaki gripped her staff in one hand, the gun hanging in her pocket side, Tamao with her Ouija board. They catiously stepped into the city as a giant explosion rocketed through the top of the tower of the Burmecian castle blasting off the entire tower of it. Immediately, the entire roof structure of the palace collapsed with only the walls still standing against the fallen cities.

Blood, blood, and more blood traced across the floor, the walls, the bodies.

Misaki summoned Quezacotl and jumped on the bird.

"We better get up there, now." She ordered. Ren, then Yoh, lastly Tamao hopped onto the bird as it soared across the Burmecian empire. A red beam shot directly out of nowhere at them. Ren swung his glaive canceling the attack.

"Keep going."

"I know, I know." Misaki muttered. It wasn't long until they reached to the entrance of the palace. "They may not know we're here. We sneak in." she mentioned summoning Shiva. The ice maiden formed a stair of ice to the top balcony of the citadel.

The four rushed up the stairs and battled against the cold and freezing rain. Misaki made it to the top first, helping Yoh up who just slipped, Ren made it by himself, and Tamao made it to the top last of course being careful. Shiva was summoned again to allow the ice to disappear.

"Thanks Shiva." Misaki nodded. Shiva smiled looking around and obviously glanced at the young boy with the glaive smiling before she disappeared. "Which way now?" the three looked at Tamao.

"…" she placed her board against the soft, wet ground concentrating.

"Whatever it was. It sure must have been hella powerful to destroy something like this." Yoh mentioned. Misaki nodded wrincing her hair and all of the rain out of it.

"Hai." She nodded frowning irritantly at her soaking wet clothes.

"30 meters north of here, there is a powerful source. Not one but two." Tamao interrupted.

"Could it be Eve and the summoner?" Yoh asked.

"Possibly. The summoner…" Tamao concentrated a little bit more trying to get the image. The flashing images of a man with silver hair and pale albino skin was speaking to an injured Burmecian…what seemed like a soldier before he waved his hand slicing the soldier into pieces. Tamao was immediately thrusted back into consciousness. "and he just killed a Burmecian soldier. Follow me." She led them quietly across the rooftop.

After a few steps, other mumbles of talking were heard. They walked across carefully. Yoh leapt behind one of the Burmecian statue. Tamao leapt down standing next to him. Ren and Misaki hid behind the other statue.

"Why this city?" a voice screamed in vain. The soldier pointed his spear against the almighty summoner. "Why not the others?" A sound of a wet thud against the cold stone floor. "We've already sent out a message to another summoner. Why didn't they take it?"

"Maybe because they don't care." He whispered softly. A wicked grin spread across his face. "Anyways," he turned around. "I've finished what needed to be done here. Now that Cleyra has already been destroyed by Odin, I only have two of the most powerful countries left to destroy."

"…W…why?"

"It's not time for you to ask any questions, boy." He smiled sinisterly. His voice rose so the four hiding behind the statues could hear better. "Of course, I'm sure the people spying on us right now behind the statues waiting for a right time to attack wouldn't have anything to say about this?"

Misaki stepped out first into the light. Her eyes widened seeing who it was.

"You."

"Pleasure to meet you again, milady," he smiled assuagingly. He observed her for a moment. "How pitiful. They would summon someone like you for their savior?"

"Shut up." Misaki silenced him. "They called me, I'm here. We fight now."

"As you wish." His hand rose into the air. The giant Nova Dragon crashed landed on the ground behind him. Yoh and Tamao and Ren finally stepped out with their weapons and spirits ready to fight. "Ah. You two are the witnesses, aren't you?" he looked at Yoh and Tamao. "How odd we all meet here at once? For those of you who do not my name," he glanced at Misaki. "Kuja."

"Summon Quezacotl! Shiva! Siren! Carbuncle! Aeris!" the five eidolons appeared ready to attack.

"This is all you got?" Kuja asked with a pretty bored expression.

"I can't use Atomos here." Misaki said. "It would destroy this city. Pheonix and Madeen are transporting some backup." She narrowed her eyes. "Don't take him for granted at all."

"This definetely is the summon he used to exterminate the city." Tamao noted. She pointed her Over Soul towards him. 'Love Strike'. The attack blasted towards him. The Nova Dragon losing its temper and patience and blasted a chunk load of molting lava/fire at the four. All of them broke off in different directions along with the eidolons except for Carbuncle who managed to deflect it.

Yoh transformed his Spirit of the Sword and swung it towards the Nova Dragon. Kuja turned to look at it patted its side and stepped back allowing the Nova Dragon to come forth and blast against the mighty Over Soul. The Spirit of the Sword sliced through the heat and smacked against the Nova Dragon. From behind, Kuja looked up and saw the glaive heading towards him.

He jumped out of the way before the glaive smashed against the ground splitting it partway of 20 feet.

"Impressive." Kuja's eyes sparkled with amusement. The Nova Dragon flung its tail above Kuja against Ren.

"Chuuka Zanmai!" Ren ordered preparing to slice the Dragon in half. It covered itself with its wings completely nullifying the attack. "My attack…"

"Its wings are its ultimate shield. The shield just like Carbuncle's." Kuja explained. The Nova Dragon swung its tail again and instead knocked Yoh hard to the ground. Quezacotl and Shiva out of nowhere shocked and iced the giant dragon.

For a moment, the Nova Dragon screamed shaking its head violently. It pointed its mouth towards the two eidolons and fired at them. Misaki withdrew them before they could have been greatly damaged by it. Siren stood at the top of the Burmecian statue holding its harp into the air firing ten million needles of water at it.

The Dragon's almighty wings blocked the incoming attack. With a mighty screech, it nullified all of the incoming attacks, Siren vanished. Tamao prepared for another giant Over Soul attack, charging one up strong enough to blast the Nova Dragon to hell.

Before she did that so, Kuja sliced her ouija board in half and smiled at her after he did.

"Sorry. I know you're quite strong, but I do value my eidolons too." He blasted her towards the ground almost knocking her out. "And as for you." He eyed at Tao Ren who had his glaive held up to his neck. "You are great exception. I know you would refuse to join me because you would consider for yourself more, but perhaps this offer will change your mind." He said before the Nova Dragon slapped its wings against Ren's body breaking a rib and an arm.

"Damn you." Ren dropped his glaive holding back the pain. Misaki was the only one left standing with Carbuncle.

"And you haven't been doing a lot of fighting lately." He noticed. He also noted the uneasy breathing in her voice and the giant Over Soul she had on her staff. A gigantic sword resembling a horn of a unicorn and four massive white wings. "So this is your Over Soul? Quite impressive." He grinned.

The Nova Dragon fired a beam against Misaki. The Over Soul's wings shielded its summoner against the blast. Misaki jumped high in the air. The wings lengthened, the sword grew as it was ready to blow the Nova Dragon into pieces.

Kuja was in an Over Soul mode with his body and blasted an Ultima towards the mighty Over Soul. The Over Soul and the Ultima cancelled one another. The staff laid a might smack against the Dragon's head causing it to scream and agony. The Nova Dragon lunged its head and knocked Misaki towards the ground into the wet floor of the Burmecian palace. The last one was finally down.

Kuja glanced at each one of them and sighed pitifully. He rested his eyes on Yoh for a moment, then on Misaki who was a couple yards away from him practically knocked out, Ren who was suffering from the broken bones, and Tamao who laid next the concrete pillars with a few pieces of stone next to her when she collided.

"See ya in Lindbulum."

He flicked his soaked hair out into the rain and smiled turning around. The Nova Dragon screamed again as Kuja got onto the Dragon. It took off flying towards the dull sky. Misaki slightly looked up weakly shielding her eyes from the bright sight of the Nova Dragon and Kuja taking off.


	10. don't let me get me

In the dead of the night: chapter 10

The eight had finally made it to the Burmecian castle. Pheonix and Madeen slammed on the giant doors as it smashed down against the floor. In panic, most of them rushed towards the next dome and had Pheonix blast the door to the ground. When they had crushed to through previous doors, they finally stopped at the center courtyard.

Anna stared in slight shock, Pilica covered her mouth gasping, Horohoro and Chocolove immediately rushed to Ren's side trying to help him relax. Vivi, Pheonix, and Madeen surrounded their summoner, while Manta went over to where Yoh was, Ryu and Anna walking over to where Tamao was lying. Faust stood there looking around at the collapsed palace.

"Sugoi." Yoh's eyes fluttered open.

"Yoh-kun!" Manta smiled wiping away the water from his face…or were they tears? It was hard to tell in the pouring rain.

"M-Manta." Yoh's foggy vision came back into view. "M-Misaki! Tamao! Ren! Are they alright?"

"Yes. I'm just glad you're okay," Manta wiped some more water away. They had to be tears. Anna walked over. Yoh looked up seeing Anna. And then Ryu whom was holding the knocked out Tamao.

"Is she alright?" Yoh asked.

"I think so." Ryu looked at the drooping body. "She seems to be just unconscious though."

"I'm glad." Yoh sighed in relief. "Ren? Misaki?"

"Here. I guess you're awake, huh?" Horohoro said solemnly holding Misaki. Chocolove was helping up a tired and exhausted Ren. The only one out of the four that didn't seem to have gotten unconscious. "Looks like you all got beaten the shit outta ya, huh?"

"Yeah." Yoh sighed being helped up by Manta. "Man, the guy's eidolon was…overwhelming."

"The eidolon defeated you all?" Anna asked.

"Yeah." Yoh said. "Just the eidolon. The guy, his name is Kuja. Kuja injured Ren. I don't know about Misaki since I was pretty much out."

"She…" Ren sighed breathing heavily almost as in gasping for fresh air. "had the Over Soul but was thrown off because it was cancelled by his power."

"So basically three of us got pounded by the summoner guy alone and the Nova Dragon basically knocked me out." Yoh said. "And…" he began to feel light-headed.

"Yoh-kun!" Manta urged him to go on. Yoh gave his carefree smile and nodded.

"I'm fine, Manta." Yoh smiled. "He…He's already destroyed Cleyra and now he's going to go attack Lindbulum or Alexandria. We need to get there." The world began to fog again, a sharp pain ran through his head.

"Not in your condition you aren't," Pilica scolded. "Faust. Can't _you_ do something about this?"

"Perhaps. I was a doctor." Faust glanced at Chocolove. Realizing what he was meaning, Chocolove set Ren against the floor. "Eliza." The Over Soul form of Eliza appeared behind him with the medical tools. "It shouldn't hurt too much." Faust grabbed a few of the wicked sharp tools.


	11. confusion

In the dead of the night: Chapter 11

Tamao woke up dazed from the sunlight. Flashbacks of the battle, charging up to fire at the Nova Dragon to send it to hell, and…the summoner. He just waved his hand once and she felt herself hit the concrete walls. She couldn't scream or say anything because the world blacked out before she could even do anything.

"Hi Tamao!" Pilica got up from her seat. Anna sat there unamused. "How have you been feeling lately?"

"Alright…I guess…" Tamao sat up slowly rocking head back and forth. "How is dear Yoh?"

"He's fine." Anna answered.

"I'm glad." Tamao sighed in relief. "What about Ren-sama? And Misaki-sama?"

"Ren recovered really fast." Pilica said. "He had a broken rib, arm, and a dislocated shoulder. Faust really can do miracles, can he?" Pilica sighed. "Yeah, basically Faust had to really work on all of you. Because of all of you had broken at least two bones!"

"Wow. What did he have to fix on me?" Tamao asked. "Probably my head I guess."

"Yeah. Your went head first into the pillar thing. Yoh had cracked his… femus and sternum. You broke your skull, mandible, clavice, humerus, and scapula." Pilica recalled the long scientific conversation.

"Oh my." Tamao placed her hand on her head.

"Misaki broke her carpals, three ribs, a radius, and an ulna." Pilica concluded. "You guys must have went through one heck of a battle, haven't you?"

"Kuja-sama was extremely powerful. I tried everything I could to fight."

"You did your best. But now since most of us are recovering from the incident, Kuja hasn't struck Lindbulum or Alexandria yet." Pilica thought.

"Misaki said it would most likely be Lindbulum." Anna interrupted. "She said that Kuja wouldn't dare Alexandria before Lindbulum. Lindbulum has a stronger army but Alexandria's natural Shaman power coming from the castle is his major threat."

Seeing Ren walk into the room, it was already a threat enough she and he were alone. He smiled with the seducive look on his face and walked towards Misaki sitting on the bed next to her wrapping his arm around her waist.

"I'm not your property, you know." Misaki smiled weakly. "You're like a two-faced bastard. You don't talk to me in front of people yet when there's no one else around, you try to make love to me or something like that."

"It's not that I don't want to be harsh or cruel to you." He said. "Just holding the fact that in front of others, I have to make sure I don't lose my composure."

"Men." Misaki sighed. "I'll probably never understand what all this pride stuff you bastards go through." Ren smirked. "Manta asked me a question the other day," he said releasing his grip allowing Misaki to feel more at ease. "Why I think the other sex is much more attractive." He said pushing her back against the bed with him lying next to her looking at the ceiling.

"And what did you say?" Misaki asked irritantly trying to relieve herself from hentai thoughts.

"Heh. Coz there is someone like you that makes me feel more attached to."

"All this Unabara stuff, huh?"

"No…not really." Ren replied. "Because the opposite sex is so much more…addicting." He blinked surprised with the word he said. He smiled closing his eyes. Misaki blushed even more.

"In what sense?" she said daring to ask. Ren grinned. She shuddered against what thoughts may lurk in the boy's mind.

"Mentally…and physically." His voice was creamy, smooth, and seducing. It was as if his voice alone was a battle of temptation to fight off.

"Um…how are you feeling?" she brightened up.

"Better. Faust is quite a talented doctor."

"After Tamao recovers completely, we have to leave. It's already surprising enough Kuja didn't attack Lindbulum within a week."

"Misaki, these kinds of attacks against powerful cities imposing as countries aren't easy to just launch an all-out attack on." Ren said as if speaking to a child. Misaki frowned irely. His cheery attitude faded quickly. "Have you decided anything about your 'fiancee' yet?" Misaki stayed silent.

"I just want to know if he is hot or not." Misaki explained. Ren chuckled. "If he Yoh's brother, he'd better look way hotter than Yoh is. I'm not saying Yoh is hot because that kid is just an amateur. Luckily, his brother is older than he is. I'm expecting better results.

"Like for example, when I arrived in Japan from Germany, I expected the 13 year old son, my age, of one of the most famous Shaman families to be some hot piece of man. But I get this kid that always listens to music and has some bitching fiancee and his best friend is a midget." Misaki sighed. "To be honest, I was really disappointed."

"What do you think about me?" Ren asked. Misaki blushed ten shades of red. Seeing that she was silent, Ren smiled feeling the heat from her body, an immediate reaction.

"You…" Misaki thought. "…um…are alright…I guess…" she shrugged stammering over her words.

"Just alright?" Ren spoke smoothly and confidently. He found it fun in teasing the young summoner. "Are you still going over the debate if women are stronger?"

"Sh…shut up!" Misaki got up and kneeled to slap him, enraged by his calm, cool reaction. Somehow with his precise timing, he was able to catch her wrist before it landed on his face and pulled her shirt until she was only inches away from his face, his warm breath against her neck.

"Possibly." Ren thought. "But they're both weak physically and mentally. They cry because they're weaker than us. But…" he thought. "you recover faster and have more endurance in spirit."

"Get to the point, Tao." Misaki ordered. His golden eyes burned at the back of her mind. The blue crystal orbs he recognized so much was alluring. But this wasn't Unabara. He had to let her go this time. He released the grip on her shirt and her hand as she stood up on the floor. "I can never understand guys, that's for sure." She crossed her arms. "But you can't take advantage of me just because of you, I'm being more resistant…am I?"

"You seem to be no different." Ren smiled. Misaki frowned. "Don't worry about it, Misaki."

"Do you think I'm a lot like Anna?" Misaki frowned even more. "She's my age but she sure tries to act like she's older and better. Like she's pretending to be God's gift to Yoh or something."

"Yes." Ren thought about it for a moment. "Both of you are stubborn. But the thing is…I don't want a girl that is always right and a girl who's always bored of everything. Even though I don't have that many expressions to show, I want someone who does make human mistakes, someone who isn't always right, someone who's fascinated and surprised by everything. Even if it does get irritating at times, I don't think I'd ever get tired of it." He said. Misaki smiled for once. "I love that kind of person. Obviously head-phones boy doesn't mind someone cute and boring."

"You think she's cute?" Misaki asked accusingly. "Sure she's pretty but I mean, it's like I'm too good for everyone yet I wear a small miniskirt and necklaces and an oversized bandana twice the size of my freaking head. I love jacked up kimonos because they make me look hot and I always really on my dear, dear Yoh because I believe he can do anything." She recited. Ren let out a small laugh. "The thing is, Yoh CAN'T do anything. She claims she loves Yoh yet tries not to show it which I don't really understand and to me, she's like his tag-along."

"You obviously don't like her."

"No. She's so hard to talk to anyways coz she thinks she's too good to talk to an all-powerful summoner like me." She stated. "So what if Anna is some jacked up Super Shaman Itako from Death Valley. I don't even talk about that kind of bullshit myself." Ren laughed a little more at Misaki's ongoing insults. "That's the fiancee's introduction of herself. MY introduction is I come from Germany and I can summon eidolons to kick your ass to hell so many times that it isn't even funny. And no, I am not some Nazi slut. Besides, a fat psychotic man with a weird mustache that screams the fck out of himself to a crowd because he wants to be the ruler of the world…I'm not that kinda loser. Faust maybe though." She grinned. Ren got up resting an arm over her shoulder.

"Don't get carried away, Misaki," Ren whispered. She nodded. "And what about Kuja to change the subject? He seems to know you as if he knew you a long time ago. And you seem to be familiar to him too since both of your Over Souls are exactly the same."

"Umm…" Misaki thought. "he's one of the few survivors of the tragedy in Israel a long time ago that the real world doesn't know. A past city called Madain Sari was suppose to be the home of summoners who communicate with eidolons. Then some big eye in the sky destroys the city and somehow Kuja can use that big eye."

"But who was Kuja if he knew you?" he asked.

"…" Misaki blushed. "Don't get any ideas. This may take a while so relax." She said taking Ren's arm off of her. He smiled agreeing and sat down on the bed listening attentively. "He…" she sighed. "…was suppose to be the bully slash leader of the kids in the village. He hung out with older kids. Kuja was only like…four years older and only liked me as a friend because I have eidolons that can fly." She explained. "Quezacotl and Vivi were my first two.

"And since none of the adults in the village never really showed the flying eidolons to the children, it was like an **awesome** thing. The younger kids liked Vivi first but not too long when he…" Misaki sighed pitifully. "…was dared by one of the kids to summon a giant meteor from the sky and almost destroyed Madain Sari." The bittersweet memories came at once to her.

"And don't get me wrong! I was born in Japan but all summoners need to grow up in Madain Sari for the magical barrier from the outside world so we can study about the eidolons and Aeons from other dimensions and time periods.

"Anyways, Kuja had his own eidolons also. He had Hades and Ozma. Now that was really bad although Kuja was admired by all the little girls [he was 8 years old, I was 4 many of the parents thought it was irresponsible of his parents. You would have no idea what he used his first Aeon for. And it was Aeon too! Meaning those ultimate Aeons that play in the legends and that kind of stuff." Misaki recalled.

"He casted Meteor on the city when he was dared. His reward was suppose to be given another Aeon if he did that. Then he casted Flare which set a couple hundred homes on fire. After that, he used Hades and sent the world of Madain Sari into complete darkness for three days, two nights, until someone used…Fairy [another powerful eidolon to destroy the darkness. It goes on and on. Really traumatic." Misaki sighed. Ren smiled in amusement.

"Kuja, me, and a few other of the summoner children, our parents really worked us over with education on learning how to read the different ancient languages inscribed on sacred scrolls on the eidolons in the Torah and the Dead Sea scrolls. There's this test we had to take on it. I failed," Misaki sighed. "Kuja failed also and beat up on one of the two kids who successfully read the entire thing without failure."

"Did you ever study for it?" Ren asked.

"Heck no." Misaki snapped. "But Kuja, me, and another boy named Gentatsu were the top three summoners children that have the best use of eidolons. Of course it was no easy task since Kuja had an Aeon. But we were all given an eidolon to keep. To be honest, I don't know where they get them because they always seem to multiply. I got Shiva. Kuja got Diablos. Gentatsu got some eidolon called a Moomba.

"Of course Kuja didn't need my Quezacotl anymore since he got a flying eidolon now and can do even 'neater' tricks with Diablos. Gentatsu was really good since he could maintain control of his eidolons very well and was probably the best summoner. All of these…'happy' childhood years didn't last too long." Misaki's face slightly faded to sadness recalling painful memories.

"It must have been Kuja because he was bragging of having a ship eidolon. Of course no one knew, even his parents, where he got it. Because he never showed it. Kuja was beginning to feel the rejection he was receiving from parents. But it made him look cooler in front of everyone else, but I guess no one wants to be hated. I don't know why but then that night, he summoned the giant eye from the sky. He called it "Invincible".

"Of course, people tried to call on the Aeons to stop it. But calling forth an Aeon takes about 300 seconds. It seems like a short time but he only needed a few seconds to destroy the city. So many tried calling upon the eidolons but they just got wacked, sealed, and sent somewhere else in the world. Vivi tried Doomsday, it was nullified, then I summoned Quezacotl. And the weirdest thing was, it destroyed the eye thing and the giant ship crashed into the city.

"But we all knew it was too late. The Invincible pretty much recovered because Quezacotl's attack may had stopped it but I was still in the immature stage to understand. Mom and Dad and I made it. Gentatsu died in the incident.

"It doesn't end there though. We were the only two out of the eight survivors from that incident. Over 800,000 summoners were killed there and there were only eight survivors. But that number would reduce really quickly since Gentatsu's younger brother, Kaeto," scenes from the past flooded back in her mind reminding her once more. "committed suicide because he was considered an outcast because of his ability to see ghosts and everyone was afraid of him.

"Maeda, who was a Japanese scientist was killed by Melissa Pearce who had her case dismissed of psychological disorders. And mom. Mom was killed in a car accident. Dad and I survived it because Vivi protected me. Dad teleported out of the accident leaving us to crash.

"Dad handed me over to my Mother's closest friends. Dad married another woman. First of all, I thought it was a big mistake. It wouldn't be too bad trying to make the woman like my mother in some way but then she gave birth to two twins, Itsuko and Midori. That's when I knew Dad didn't need me anymore."

"…Were you upset by your parents? I wouldn't know because I still have my parents." Ren asked.

"I don't know. All that I know was, we were a happy family before. I didn't care what Dad that thought anymore since I have foster parents to look after. Many kids like me think they'd be jealous, but I was really happy when they gave birth to their first child, Kitai Suru meaning hope. I finally had a younger sibling that I can look after and be proud of." Misaki smiled to herself.

"But then my Dad began to have problems too. His first daughter, Itsuko began to have prophetic dreams and began to go insane. She summoned random eidolons that she did not own which I don't know how she did it, but with the Aeon, Tiamat, she killed a thousand people so she had to be executed for it. There's not that many summoners left. There's about… five of us." She said.

"You have one depressing life." Ren said.

"Actually it's not that bad. I mean, besides the part that I'm doing horrible in math, I've had a good life since my foster parents adopted me." Misaki smiled. "They've been wonderful parents. About Kuja…I never knew what happened to him but it's quite obvious he collected a whole lot of Aeons and really knows how to use them.

"But I don't know why he's trying to destroy those four cities. He got Cleyra with Odin, Burmecia with the Nova Dragon, and he'll probably be attacking Lindbulum with something more powerful since Lindbulum has a strong defensive army."

"And why don't you have any Aeons?" Ren asked.

"Because Aeons are rare." Misaki sighed. "I only have one half of Alexander because he's far far too powerful to be held only by one person. The other half must be someone else." She explained. "Aeons don't show up as easy as eidolons. Because they're ultimate."

"What about Alexander?"

"I don't know. Legend says he's one of the strongest Aeons ever. But since I only have half, I can use him as an Over Soul. But it takes five minutes to charge up and I only get thirty seconds to use it." Misaki said. "Like you saw when I used Alexander's ability."

The door opened. It was Yoh. With a smile on his face.

"I see you all have been a nice chat." He scratched the back of his head. "We're on our way to Lindbulum. It's in Ireland, I think. But I don't know. Vivi says there's a place we have to stop by before we go there. It's called…Norway?"

"Yeah. The giant tree?" Misaki lit up. "What about it?"

"I don't know. Vivi says if Kuja hasn't made his move yet, we should intercept him in Norway so we can avoid casualties in Lindbulum."

"I see. Good idea." Misaki stood up. "But that place can get dangerous. It can be the perfect battleground for experts and the perfect trap for anyone that doesn't know the place too well. Vivi was created there so he is the map already."


End file.
